We Made You
by SakuraSan89
Summary: Shuichi Minamino, better known as the Youko, Kurama, is awoken one morning by his daughter to find that a young woman has collapsed outside of his home. Who is she, why is she there, what happened to her and why does she smell so...
1. We Made You

A small shadow ran through the woods panting heavily, not caring about how many times it slipped and fell in the mud, nor the way the mud stung the, now brown, marks covering its fragile body. All the shadow cared about, thought about, felt, knew, all it anything, was getting away from the bright lights and the awful shouting. The shadow knew it wasn't long before it was caught, and it knew what punishment would come; but it also knew that if it didn't at least try, then everything it did up until now was for nothing. So, the shadow did what any other shadow would do, it ran. It had no idea how effective running away would, or could, be, but it refused to stop. The poor shadow ached, its body complained and it could feel exhaustion taking over. But none of this seemed to matter until it lost its battle with its body and collapsed losing sight of the lights, the shouts, and the world around it.

"Daddy? Da-a-a-dy. Daddy!"

"Hmm, I'm trying to sleep Amiri..."

"I know, but there's a weird lady in front of the house, she's 'gainst the willow tree, and she's not moving."

"Maybe she got lost last night and decided to rest there for a while."

"Oh...I wonder what happened to her when she got lost..."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, her clothes are all dirty and she gots lots of booboos."

"What?" Shuichi Minamino, better known as Kurama, groggily pushed himself out of bed and turned to his bright eyed, five year old daughter Amiri. "I'll go take a look at her. You call your uncles and stay inside, okay Amiri?" Amiri nodded and left the room to run downstairs to the only phone she could reach, while her father put on a robe and headed out the front door.  
Kurama yawned and blocked his eyes from the offending sun with his hand lazily. After a few seconds of getting used to the outside world, he finally moved his hand to see a rather young looking woman slumped over in front of his tree. At first glance, the woman, who was beginning to look more and more like a girl, really just seemed like she was in a peaceful slumber, but, as he got closer, Kurama not only could smell the blood, he could see the dried red trails all over her. "Oh." Kurama rushed over to her, "I guess I should tell the girls to come over as well..", he mumbled as he picked the woman up gently and brought her into the house where an eager Amiri was chatting away on the phone.

Sorry this is such a short first chapter, but this is so you can start to get a feel for things.

I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, nor do I make a profit off of it nor this story.

Please let me know what you think. As the story goes on, I hope to hear a few guesses from everyone.


	2. Beautiful Dreamer, Wake Onto Me

'Mmmmm, this is so comfortable!' A slender hand glided over a pillow, 'When did they replace my pillow?', and down to rest beside its owner. 'Ohhh this is nice, I wonder what brought on all the changes?' The hands' owner tossed over on her back, allowing hair to spread out around her face like a black and blond halo. 'Wait...is this a bed?' Her eyes fluttered open to a large room with the sun light streaming in through an open window and filtered through cotton white curtains. "Where am I?" She managed to squeak out before she felt the blistering pain of thirst, reminding herself of the events gone by. A sad sigh escaped her lips, alerting her "guard" outside the door.

"Oh, she's awake! I was beginning to worry." She turned her head to see a woman smiling at her through the doorway.

The first woman studied the second woman, or as she wished to call her, Lady Stranger. 'She's cute...doesn't look like she could have a cruel bone in her body, those eyes are surely something.' She stared, rather rudely, into Lady Stranger's deep red eyes until she had her shifting nervously.

Luckily for Lady Stranger, two more women made it to the doorway out of breath and, again, strangely smiling. The woman who made it to, and through, the door first was the most "normal" looking out of the trio. She had long brown hair, brown eyes, was very easy on the eyes and wore a kind smile. The first woman (who refused to think of herself as the stranger) then looked over the other two. There was Lady Stranger, who, though it was quite strange that her eyes were red and her hair was a sea-foam blue-green, looked incredibly caring and innocent, and the third woman, who the "original first woman" became instantly jealous of; it wasn't the fact that this woman was fairly tall, at least in comparison to the other two, nor that she had sky-blue hair, it was her eyes, two round orbs that danced between pink and purple and held a constant smile in them. "That's wonderful news Yukina! Should I go tell everyone?"

"No, we should wait until she is dressed and up for it. Wouldn't that be what you would want?" The more normal looking woman smiled kindly at the woman who had finally looked down to see that she was wearing naught but a few bandages and a pair of boxers. "Sorry," she whispered into the "original first woman's" ears as she leaned down to pick up a scattered pillow by the bed, "you were badly injured and we couldn't very well have left you in that state. We put your clothes with the laundry, and I'm afraid some of them shrank. But I am glad to see you are finally awake, mine name is Urameshi Keiko."

Lady Stranger saw the lost look on the woman's face and decided to explain, "Our friend's daughter found you outside, she told her father who took you in and called us," She motioned towards herself, Keiko and the unnamed source of jealousy , " as well as the rest of our friends, to come help take care of you. We cleaned and bandaged your wounds and brought you into this room to rest. Since then, for the past day or so, we have been staying here waiting for you to wake up." The "original first woman" was flashed a caring smile from Lady Stranger before she continued, "I'm sorry that this may have come as a shock to you, and you are probably wondering why we didn't just take you to the hospital. We all agreed that we didn't want to risk moving you too much with the state you were in, and we are lucky enough to have a doctor here." She blushed a little when she mentioned the doctor, something the "original first woman" thought made her look even cuter, before quickly remembering her manners and bowing. "Oh! Please excuse me, I'm Yukina, it's a pleasure to meet you."

The "original first lady" smiled, bowed back and was about to attempt a reply when her source of jealousy began blurting out questions. "So, what's your name and, if you don't mind me asking, how does a young girl like yourself end up covered in cuts, in front of a house this far off from the city and why?" The woman tried again to reply but found that her throat was still sore from thirst. She smiled apologetically and pointed to her throat.

Keiko turned to the source of jealousy and whispered something in her ear before speaking to the woman. "Botan is going to go get you some water." She pointed towards her as she was running out the door. "I can't believe a little girl could get so hurt..." Keiko mumbled sadly to the ground, it had been a while since she had seen anything that could make her loose even the slightest amount of faith in the human world. The "original first woman" waved her hands lightly in front of her to try and convey her thoughts to Keiko without words, but to no avail. She sighed sadly and gave the two women left in the room a small smile which all of them understood was her cursing the days she spent not learning sign language. An awkward silence fell over them until the woman who had recently been identified as Botan waltzed in with a glass and a pitcher of water; the three girls watched in awe as the woman greedily finished off the pitcher.

The woman patted her throat lightly and tested out her voice with a light "Ah" before clearing it and turning back to the other three with a bright smile. "Thank you very much, it's quiet frightening to loose your voice." She laughed lightly in hopes of relieving the gloom that had settled around her. "Where to start?", she mused while glancing back down at her body, "Well, let me begin by thanking you all for your kindness and if there is ever anything I could do to repay you, please let me know." The woman wrapped the blankets around her and got up to bow towards the women. "My name is Sakura Tsuki and it is an absolute pleasure to meet you. As for me being a "young girl"...well, how old are all of you?" It seemed like a strange way to start off, but it was better than nothing.

"I'm about 24." Keiko spoke in a whisper, she still was not too happy about getting older.

"We're 24 as well." Botan piped up quickly; she had to think of something other than "well I'm the grim reaper so I have no age, and she's about 150" and copying Keiko's age was the best thing she could come up with on short notice.

Sakura stifled a small giggle, "I'm not a young girl to the three of you then." She smiled softly at the them, "I thank you for thinking I'm younger than I actually am, but, I'm 26 and I am going to be 27 in about three months."

"Ahh...all of us thought you couldn't be over 15...I'm so sorry." Botan blushed from the humiliating realization.

"Oh, no, no! Please don't apologize! What kind of person would I be if I became angry with you for thinking that after all you have done for me. Besides, to be honest I use to have to constantly try my best to look young for my old job, so you mistaking me for a lot younger a compliment to my work, right?" Sakura smiled and pulled the blanket off the floor, "Umm...if you don't mind me asking, what did you end up doing with my clothes that didn't shrink?"  
Yukina jumped at the thought and ran over to a dresser in the far corner of the room, " I'm sorry to say, but only your jeans and bra were the things to not shrink. But, we have a shirt and some underwear you may use." Sakura blushed a little a the thought of some poor, unfortunate soul having to deal with her complicated clothing. The idea was a little funny, and she was lost in it until something clean and fresh smelling was placed into her hands. "You can get changed and everything in there." Sakura nodded another thanks and ran over towards the door Yukina was pointing to.

"Well we can't just throw her outside!"

"We wouldn't be doing that! That group of men that came by before said they were looking for her, why couldn't we just have given them her then?"

"Look at her! You can't possibly think that was the right thing to do."

"Since when do you or I care about the right thing to do? I say we offer her back to those men for a ransom."

"And just let them kill her?"

"What makes you so sure that they would kill her, and why do you care about this little thing so much?"

"You saw how angry they were how can you not think they were going to kill her? And what's so wrong about wanting to help someone for once?

"So you are going to make me work harder to afford to take care of her just because you want to fuck her? And who the hell is going to train her?"

Two fury ears twitched at the noise the argument in the next room over was making, waking up their owner long enough to realize the argument was over her. "Oh.." She mumbled as she continued to listen to the two other demons yell at each other. It had been a little over a week that she had been staying there with the thieves, and apparently, she had over stayed her welcome. Though she was sad to have to leave saviors, she had made up her mind to leave. 'Hopefully I didn't make too much trouble for them...' She sighed and and stuck her head out just enough to see them still arguing. 'This is my chance, they're too distracted to notice if I go out the door...'

"And just where do you think you are going little one?" She turned to see the tall Yoko standing in her way, glaring down at her.

"Oh, I was just going to go sit outside underneath the cherry blossom..."

"Really? So you weren't about to run off and not come back...because I won't let you do that, not without repaying at least me"

"Leave her alone, this is between you and me. Don't involve her." The other demon, an average height bat demon, stood in between the two.

"It wouldn't be very fair if we left her out of the conversation, especially if it's about her, Kuronue. Wouldn't you agree little one?" The Yoko loomed over the girl, making her feel tinier by the second.

"I...I don't mind." She put on a brave smile and moved again towards the door, only to be blocked by both demons this time.

"You're not allowed to leave us until you partake in our little discussion." The Yoko smiled just enough to flash his teeth, and easily lifted the girl up. "Come on Kuronue, we're going to finish this." He plopped down on the nearest chair he could find before throwing the girl back on the ground. "So, what do you think? How badly do you want to stay with us? Do you even think you could keep up with us?"

Kuronue let out a warning growl, "Leave her be, don't play one of your mind games with her. I'm sure she's been through more than enough."

The Yoko continued on as if he didn't hear him, "You do know you will just be a hindrance right? And there is no way I will let myself be caught because you are too weak" The girl tried to take a step away, but was caught by a strong, painful hand . "Well?"

The small demon looked at the two staring at her, and finally gained the courage to speak, "I...I-"

Sakura stepped out of the bathroom feeling refreshed. "Ah, much better!" She glanced down and giggled at how the shirt swished about her it was a loose shirt, something she had never really been able to wear before. "Thank you so much! I heard you mention something earlier about meeting the others? If it's not too much trouble, I'd love to meet them now." She let out another small giggle as wind blew in through the window and swished her shirt again.

Botan stared at Sakura, "For someone who just found out she has been asleep for two days, was badly injured and that a bunch of strangers saw her naked...you're rather... chipper." Keiko blanched, though she agreed, for Botan to make a comment on someone being chipper, it just didn't seem fair nor right..

Sakura's smile fell and she sighed, "I'm just happy that I got to sleep in a bed." She followed Keiko out another door and down a hall that was decorated with various family photo's drawings, maps and posters, "As for being naked and everything, it really doesn't bother me anymore."

A small gaggle of men, a few more women, and a kid or two, stood about thirty feet away from Keiko, Yukina, Botan and Sakura, "What do you mean anymore?" Yukina asked softly, afraid to be asking a question that was too forward.

"I mean that-"

"Daddy! She's awake!"

We're slowly getting there! Does anyone want to guess on what Sakura meant? Or you can feel free to guess on anything else, review, or just say hello. I always love hearing from people.


	3. Good Morning Baltimore

Bright brown eyes stared up at Sakura, "Good morning miss! It's nice to see you awake, you were in bed for so long I didn't think you would ever wake up!" Amiri bounced about Sakura, inspecting her here and there, even grabbing at a few places.  
"Amiri! That's not something you should say to someone." A voice chided the child.  
"Why not, it's the truth?" The young girl protested before staring back up at Sakura.  
"Oh?" Sakura smiled and knelt down until she was eye-level with her, "Good morning to you too little one."  
Amiri crossed her arms and huffed, "Don't call me little one...I'm not little, I'm five years old."  
A small giggle escaped Sakura's mouth, "Ah, how wrong of me I am sorry, you are right, you're practically grown. But, if I am not to call you little one, what shall I call you by?"

'Why am I giggling so much...I'm not a freaking valley girl...'  
"Hmm, well...you can call me rainbow, or crystal or, or...hmm. OH! I know! Call me Your Majesty the Goddess Princess!"  
"Amiri.." The same voice called out not even attempting to hide the annoyance in it anymore.  
"Oh...my name's Amiri, nice to meet you." She pouted as her hand jutted out expectantly towards Sakura.  
"It is very nice to meet you Amiri, my name's Sakura. My, that's quite the grip you have!"  
"Yep! That's what my daddy tells me all the time! Oh! You should meet my daddy, you'll like him a lot, he's very nice." She paused and glanced back to the group of people behind her, "Actually, so are my aunts and uncles, you'll like all of them, come meet them." Without warning, Amiri began pulling Sakura towards the gaggle of men and women patiently waiting for her attention, "Here you go. You should introduce yourself!"  
Sakura nodded and shook her hand lightly, 'This is how you let kids know that you need your hand back, right?' After a few moments of waiting Amiri finally released her death grip just long enough for Sakura to bow. "Hello everyone, I am Sakura Tsuki, thank you for being so kind to me."  
"That's a weird last name." One of the men of the group blurted out, "Ow...jerk".

'Apparently someone in the group must have thought that was tactless.' Sakura smirked briefly before continuing with her usual explanation. "Yes, it is. But that's because it isn't a real last name." After a few moments she sighed and continued, "Perhaps I should explain? Well...to put it simply, I have no parents to speak of, so the people around me gave me a last name they thought fit me. It is weird, yes, but it makes life easier to have a last name."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
"Edelweiss, Edelweiss  
Every morning you greet me  
Small and white, clean and bright  
You look happy to meet me  
Blossom of snow may you bloom and grow  
Bloom and grow forever  
Edelweiss, Edelweiss  
Bless my homeland forever"  
The early morning dew caught glimpses of the rising sun creating tiny circular rainbows that covered the greenery in the drowsy forest the young woman singing sat contently in. She smiled as she took in the scenery around her, enjoying the peaceful..'Well at least it was peaceful'. Loud cracking of twigs could be heard, closer and closer.

"I caught you Motek." Long arms encircled the young woman, "Singing that song again, why is it that you like it so much?"  
Light pink touched the young woman's face as she tried to find the right reply, "Ah! Yakiri, you should know better than to sneak up on me like that!" She turned to face her "captor", "And you know that I can't answer that question." She studied the man for a little bit before continuing, "What are you doing up this early?"  
"I just came looking for you, I should ask you what you were doing up this early." The man let go of her and smirked.  
"Hmm? I happen to enjoy it. Everything is so quiet and peaceful, the only thing awake is the Earth herself. It's a great time for meditation." The man laughed loudly, once again breaking the quiet atmosphere and causing the young woman's pink cheeks to turn red. "You know, something like this could actually help you out!"  
The man huffed, "I wasn't aware I needed help."She rolled her eyes and attempted to stand as off in the distance, a town could be heard waking up, "But, we should start heading back, it isn't exactly safe for us to be out here."  
The young woman laughed, "Oh great, who are we going to piss off today Yakiri?"

"You must have been so sad, not having a mommy or a daddy." Small sniffles could be heard coming from the floor, "I don't know what I would do without my parents...oh!"

"Well not really, I was-"

"I know, I know, I know what I'll do!" Amiri sang out as she grabbed an arm. "I can lend you my daddy so you don't have to worry anymore!"  
A body was flung out of the crowd and, with the laser precision and targeting that only a small child can have, into Sakura, causing both her and the unidentified body to turn into a pile of limbs on the ground.  
"Ahahahaha...ow."  
"Are you ok? I hope nothing opened back up."  
Sakura looked up, only to have her nose buried in a large orange pomp. 'Well at least I'm not the only one with that kind of... oohh nice orange.' Her eyes followed the hair for a good couple of seconds, robing her of any chance to speak before she was rushed with "are you alright" and the "are you hurt". 'Find a scapegoat...quick', Sakura looked towards the stray body, "I landed on him, so you should be more worried about him."  
"No, Kuwabara is right, you have injuries that can re-open, so we should be more concerned and gentle with you. Besides, I'm fine." The same voice that had chided Amiri spoke softly, the man it belonged to stood up mid-sentence and offered a hand to Sakura. "I'm sorry about that, Amiri tends to be over-excitable." He shot a curt glance at Amiri who managed to dissapear; he let out a small sigh and pulled Sakura up. "I'm Amiri's Father, Minamino Shuuichi, it's a pleasure to meet you."

'Father...Father? Nice ass...yeah...Father.' "Oh! Then you're the owner of this shirt...and the house! Thank you so much for you help! If there is anything at all I can do to repay you for your kindness, then I'd be more than happy to do so. Perhaps paying for everyone's services... . I can also clean, cook, or do whatever you need." Sakura floundered about, bowing here and there, not caring if it hurt or not. Behind her was a small chorus of laughter, causing her cheeks to turn light pink. 'What did I do?'  
"I don't think it'd be very fair of any of us to accept money from you." Pomp man (as Sakura had decided to call him, absolutely sure that he was a super hero) approached Sakura and, after giving her a quick once-over, smiled . "I'm Kuwabara Kazuma, you probably don't remember me, but we kinda already met. Now, how are you feeling?"

'Hey...hey...what's with that embarassed smile? He saw me naked didn't he?' "I'm fine thank you, I'm a quick healer. But, if you don't mind me asking, what do you mean we've met already?" Sakura gave a wary look and took a small step back, her defenses were ready. 'They seem nice, but this could be another trick...I wouldn't put it past the boys...'  
"I've noticed..." Kuwabara mumbled quickly before Sakura's attention snapped back to him, "Oh, you regained consciousness once before while I was first cleaning you up." He waited for a couple of seconds to see if Sakura would catch on, obviously she wasn't. "I was your doctor...and if you'll let me I would like to continue being your doctor until you fully heal."  
'Called it! Oh...but wait...he's not really like them and he saw me naked and...' "Oh come on girl, it's not the first time, get over it!" A room of eyes suddenly fixated themselves on Sakura. "What? I said that out loud didn't I? Sorry!" She ducked her head down and quickly turned back to Kuwabara, "I'm so sorry I should be thanking you." She smiled and bowed, 'I'm getting far too used to bowing...'. "Thank you, are you sure I can't at least pay you?"  
That earned another laugh from the crowd before a tall brunette woman walked up and slung her arm around Kuwabara, "Nah, don't worry about it, I wouldn't let him take money from a girl in need." She smiled kindly and threw out her her other hand, "Kuwabara Shiziru, nice to meet ya."  
Sakura smiled back and shook Shiziru's hand. "Thank you, it's nice to meet you as well." Before she could protest about being called a girl, again, a third man, the only one she hadn't met yet, jumped over to her and shook her unoccupied hand feverishly.  
"The name's Urameshi Yusuke, it's nice to finally meet you." He barely gave Sakura a second to process much, before he asked the question that seemed to be on everyone's mind. "So, what was a little girl like yourself doing outside someone's house that early, and why were you all beat up?" His grip tightened as Sakura tried to take a few steps back, he wasn't going to let her not answer this.

'Son of a bitch...I know I'm short but really...' "Well first I would like to know why you all think I'm a little girl...I know I'm short and all but I didn't think I was that tiny!" 'Whoops...' He let go of her hand and looked at her, almost shocked, she had the attention of everyone in the room again '...great'. "I'm actually 26, closer to 27 really, and I'm not really sure why I was outside of this house, I honestly don't remember falling asleep..." She looked up to try and recall her reasoning for stopping, that was a stupid thing for her to do. "As for why I was all cut up...well I'm a klutz and I've been camping these past few weeks, so it only makes sense that I'd end up with a few scrapes." Kuwabara,Yukina, Botan and Keiko all raised an eyebrow, skeptical of her use of words, those weren't a "few scrapes". "I guess I must have fallen or something around here and since I didn't get all the sleep I needed I must have just collapsed." She put on a smile that said what she was saying was the God's honest truth; unfortunately there was at least one person who could tell that she was lying.  
"And what about those scars?" Kuwabara asked, earning him another pink cheeked look from Sakura.

'By the Gods...he even saw there...' "Well...like I said, I'm a bit of a klutz...I'm pratically on a first name basis with all the doctors back home." She let out a laugh as she shook her head, all her years of acting weren't going to waste. "But I must insist; all of you have been so kind to a complete stranger for no reason at all, that's not something most people would do." 'At least not without wanting "favors" in return' She thought grimly before continuing, "There must be SOMETHING you can let me do to show my thanks."  
"Well actually.." Shuuichi began with a small smile on his face, "what you can do is not protest when we ask you to stay here for a few more days, under supervision."

'Ur...shit' Sakura tilted her head a little and smiled, "But wouldn't I just be a bother?"  
"Not at all," he shook his head and smiled, "it's just to make sure everything is alright with you. I don't think it would be very fair of us to send someone out before they're completely healed." He nodded to the rest of the group, this was an acceptable reason.  
"Oh yay! Me and Miss Sakura can have a sleep over!" Amiri's small voice piped up, she'd come out of hiding and was excitedly clutching Sakura's hand.  
'Great...now I can't say no...' Sakura smiled down at Amiri and nodded, "I don't see how that is an unreasonable request, but please let me be of some use while I'm here, it hardly seems fair to me that I should be the only one benefiting from this deal." She ruffled Amiri's hair a little, "I mean I get to stay with my new friend here."  
Shuuichi made a small noise from his throat before looking at Amiri with a hint of sadness in his eyes, "I'm sorry to have to be the bearer of bad news...but Amiri's mother is going to be taking her home later tonight."  
"But Daddy I don't want to go! Can't I stay here with you and everyone else?" Tears threatened to break through their barrier.  
"No, you have to go back to your mother's tonight." His voice was more forceful than before. Amiri burst into tears at the rejection and ran off into a room. Her father sighed sadly before Yusuke placed a hand on his shoulder and whispered something in his ear. Though Sakura was at a distance, she could just piece what he said together.

"If... right...she's safer...away."

'Well there's a confidence boost...'

Well here's the next chapter, fueled by Voltaire (the musical artist, not the Author) and Green tea...and I still feel crappy so please shed some love.

1,000 respect points to the first person who can guess Sakura's job (I think it's pretty easy to guess)


	4. Haven't Got A Clue

Ok! So I will no longer say this is purely my work alone! From this chapter on, I will be receiving help from Sora-San, so please enjoy ^.^

Anyways, I would love to hear some guesses at what Sakura's job was/is!

* * *

Sakura walked over to the door that Amiri had slammed behind her and knocked gently on it,'I'm not sure if she'll respond to me or not...but..'

"Amiri? Can I please talk to you?" Her only answer was the few sobs she could hear on the other side of the door. "You shouldn't be upset with your father...I'm sure he is only trying to make sure your mother doesn't get sad and lonely because she couldn't see her daughter. I know if I was a parent I'd be sad if I couldn't see my baby." Another sad smile played on her lips before the door creaked open just enough so she could see puffy eyes and hear loud hiccups.

"Mommy wouldn't miss me, I spend more time with her and besides she has her new boyfriend so she is happier when I'm not around...she told me so" Amiri managed to gasp this out before tearing up again and letting the hiccups get a hold of her.

'Ha...what a bitch.'

"Tch...bitch" Sakura mumbled lightly before slapping her hand over her mouth, hoping no one heard her. 'Whoops...fuck again?'

When she finally managed to calm her self enough to speak again Amiri looked up at Sakura, "Besides, daddy always does this! As soon as there is something fun and exciting that comes up, he ships me back off to mommy...I wasn't supposed to go back until tomorrow morning. And he knows how much I wanted to hang out with everyone...I don't think he likes me very much." She started to sob again, but she was much quieter when she noticed her father, as well as everyone else looking at her; and from the look on his face, it was clear they had all heard her.

Sakura bent down so she was eye level with Amiri before gently pulling her out of the room and into a tight hug. "Oh sweety, I know you don't believe that for one second", she whispered softly as she stroked Amiri's hair, "you know quite well how much your father loves you, and from how sad you are that you have to leave early, I'd say you love him that much too." Amiri stopped sniffling and looked up into Sakura's smile, "I'm pretty sure he is only sending you home early because he loves you so much." She watched as Amiri began to look away in embarrassment at being told she's wrong before Sakura caught her gaze again, "Though I like you already and I hope that you like me, I am still a stranger, and we mustn't forget Stranger Danger. So I still can pose as a threat, and I think you are the one thing your father can't stand the idea of loosing." She smiled sweetly and nuzzled Amiri's nose, causing her to giggle a little, "Do you see why it's silly of you to be sad? You should be happy because this is your daddy showing you how much he loves you and cares about you." Sakura leaned in closer to whisper into Amiri's ear, "Besides, I can tell everyone here loves having you around."

Amiri's face lit up and then looked away, embarrassed yet again, "Oh...but...how can they be okay with me after I said all those mean things and cried so much?"

"What if I cry too?" Sakura began to make the noises of hysterical crying earning her a loud laugh from Amiri and a small hand over her mouth.

It was a few hours later when the front door to the house opened and closed, not so loud to attract attention but not so soft as to be considered sneaking in. The careful ear could catch low footsteps of one familiar with the layout of the house and shortly thereafter a new female emerged into the room where those still around had gathered.

The newcomer had medium brown hair that hung to her shoulders tied back behind her head and matching brown eyes. Her clothing was simple; a blue t-shirt with light blue jeans and around her neck were two long cords that both sunk past the neckline of her top. She glanced around the room quick, but she didn't get far before she was noticed by the youngest in the room.

The girl was a blur of reddish-brown as she ran over to hug the new female, who proceeded to drop down and scoop her up in a hug. "Sora-Chan! You be gone long time."

Sakura frowned slightly when the little ball of energy left her arms. 'Well I guess I was getting a little too use to that for my own good...' She let out a small sigh before standing to see what it was that had pulled Amiri away from her.

"Sorry 'Miri-Chan," she hugged the little girl close again as sad brown eyes meet hers. "I had to go help somebody important back near where I was born."

"In A-mer-ca?"

"Yes," Sora nodded with a smile. Amiri understood more than she could say she did and when she did try to speak her understanding it was so cute. She still didn't know exactly when or why the young girl had taken such a liking to her but her guess would be it had to do with being friends with her father.

As luck would have it, he was the next to approach. She saw him coming and let Amiri climb down, shoo-ing her back to where she had been. There was no telling what this conversation might mention and neither one wanted to wreck the young girl's mental innocence.

"What are doing here?" he asked in a deceptively casual tone.

"I thought 'your door was always open to me'?" she replied with a mote of hurt that almost no one would be able to pick up on.

'Hooo boy, is someone about to get into a cat fight?' Her eyes drifted around the room in an attempt to find the source of the thickening air, but stop when she could no longer tell the difference between a chair and a person. "Blegh" Sakura hands' covered her eyes briefly to try and right herself.

"Of course," he countered. His tone softened when he heard hers, but till sounded almost exactly the same. They had long since become attuned to mostly imperceptible signals and fluctuation in voice and tone, a useful trick for teammates in dangerous situations. "You've merely been away long enough it seems like you're avoiding the place and now you show up without any warning. It's unusual..."

She bid him a look that accepted the verbal checkmate before answering the question. "I hear there's a new..." she gave a momentary pause to pick a word here, "situation that requires my assistance. We flew back as soon I heard and-

"Who's the new girl?" The sudden change of subject came mid-sentence as she'd returned to looking around the room and finally noticed Sakura.

'I guess I just brought more attention to myself...what the hell is wrong with me?'

"Oh...Um...I'm assuming you mean me right?" Her weight shifted from side to side before she finally settled both feet on the ground and gave a, what she thought was, comforting smile. "Hello there, I'm Sakura Tsuki, it's a pleasure to meet you. May I ask what your name is?"

'Stupid girl...very stupid, why would you ask her name...you know you should leave...why else would the one...Yusuke? Say that it's safer if Amiri is away...sure stranger danger but...' It was a few moments before Sakura realized she was staring out the sliding door glass and not at her object of interest, the woman in front of her. "Ah! Sorry...did you say something...I must have...spaced I guess...sorry"

Sora regarded the other girl for a minute, looking her over as if studying her but it wasn't until her final comment that she spoke herself but not to the other female. "You sure do know how to pick the crazy ones," she teased turning brown eyes back to the male.

When he didn't rise to her joke, the brunette turned back to Sakura. "Sotara Sora," she answered simply. Her tone wasn't unkind in any sense, but the concern she usually spoke with had lost out to curiosity. "I hope you don't mind my asking, but what's your story? Unless you stumbled blindly into a party here I didn't know about, you've got a tale to tell and I'm a curious type."

Sakura smiled sweetly, "Oh of course, you see."

'Er fuck...why do people keep asking me this freaking question...'

"I was camping up around here the other night...well week now, and at night I went for a walk. I'm horribly clumsy you see, so I guess I must have slipped fallen and just ended up here...I really don't remember much after leaving my tent."

'Well that much is true, I don't know what the hell happened when I left my "tent" and my bag...MY BAG, SHIT!'

"And you see, Amiri here found me and told her father, and Mr. Minamino was kind enough to call everyone here to come and help me. But since I was a little scuffed up, they've asked to keep an eye on me."

Kuwabara and Shizuru gave out little huffs at Sakura's gross understatement of the state she was in when they found her, but it was Yusuke who spoke up about it. "Ha..yeah scuffs...the same kind of "little scuffs" we take people to you for Sora."

Sakura continued on as if she hadn't hear them, "Actually going over it in my head just made me think of something. If you expect me to stay here, I'll need my things. My tent is not far from here, I'll just go and grab my things, make sure the fire is out and take down my tent so it doesn't get weathered too badly." Before she even finished her sentence, Sakura's hand was on the sliding glass door.

'Okay..if they protest or chase after me...I run...I'm not going back to that place...'

Kurama had moved between Sakura and the door as her fingers touched the handle. In the same moment Sora had reached forward to grab her arm and spoke. Her reach fell short, barely grazing the other's arm, but the words were her true attempt to stop Sakura.

As soon as her view was blocked of the door, Sakura started backing up, a small but deep sound coming from her throat.

"If you were injured enough to honestly not remember what happened then you really do need to be checked out, by someone if not an actual doctor..." She hesitated, almost biting back the rest but it was a judgment call and she chose the gamble. "In fact, it's better if you don't see a doctor because they can't treat you half as quickly, or as well, as we can..."

'Like hell I'm going to let them-' Sakura spun around as she realized the truth in Sora's words. 'Crap! Why didn't I think about that...?'

Silence followed for a few moments as no one wanted to break the tension, but finally a soft young voice spoke. " 'Kura-San..." Amiri pleaded in a sad yet sweet tone that only a young child can ever manage. She had wandered over and now tugged at the hem of Sakura's borrowed shirt. "Pease don't go. You still has lotsa booboos."

'God dammit...I can't say no...that's so low...crap.' Sakura sighed before turning around and playfully tussling Amiri's hair. "Well when you ask so sweetly, how can I say no? Though I-" She would have continued her sentence if it weren't for the familiar tightening of her chest.

'Oh please...not now...' Her fingers glided to her pocket for the cold L, but to no avail; it had already started. Without thinking she brought her sleeve up to her mouth, if there was one thing a child didn't need to see, it was the awful icky red things Sakura was coughing up.

"E...e-...exc-excuse...m-me...p-pl-please."

She spun on her heels and ran to the closest bathroom, her nose as her guide to the almost sterile smell of the toilet.

As Sakura sped past her a wave of dizziness washed over Sora and she started to lose her balance. She'd barely begun to fall backwards before a pair of strong and familiar arms caught her. She didn't need to open her eyes to know who held her, only one person could send that warmth through her system with just a touch. The one person she couldn't ever forgot, and the only one she couldn't be with...

"Are you alright?" Kurama asked as the brunette got her feet back. He hung close as she swayed though he knew that was no true judge of her balance. His worry didn't abate by much when she answered him, the tone a distant one that typically meant she had a troublesome and potentially dangerous idea.

"I'm fine," she offered in response, looking off towards the bathroom Sakura had vanished towards. "But I don't think she's anywhere close..."

Sakura looked down at the shirt in a strange mixture of disgust and anger. 'Well great...now his shirts ruined...' She sighed and checked herself in the mirror again, and checking her breath again, to make sure no signs of her little "episode" were evident. 'If only I had run to the bathroom earlier...fuck my luck sideways.'

With one more breath, she opened the door with a smile on her face and proceeded to walk back to the group saying nothing, hoping that no one would say anything.

'Then again...if they do say something and they are unaware...maybe I can...ha!' As she approached the group, a sweet, melodic sound bounced off the walls of the house. "Oh?" A true smile, not the crowd pleasing ones she'd become accustomed to, reached her lips as Sakura began to absentmindely sing along.

After her third knock AND after hitting the doorbell, and still no one answered? The woman began to become aggitaited. 'I bet he's doing this on purpose...ugh this is just like him...probably having one of his secret meetings with his "friends"...god how long are they going to take?' Her thoughts snarled back and forth, pumping her up to yell at the first thing she saw. Behind her the car honked and a young man poped his head out the window.

"Hey, what's going on? Where are they? Didn't you get asked even to come here early?"

"Exactly!" She barked back, ringing the doorbell countless more times, all within a second of the other.

The incessant tone of someone ramming the doorbell continually shattered the peace of the house and the red head stood so slowly it seemed as if getting to his feet was actually painful. Searching the room with his eyes he located his daughter and spoke to her at once. "Come now Amiri, time to go back with your mother." He did a fair attempt at keeping his distaste for the woman out of his voice but that did nothing to help persuade his little girl.

"Sora-chan!" cried the child, running over to her seat on the couch to cling to the older female. "Make Daddy no make me go!"

The brunette exchanged a glance with the girl's dad then sighed as he left to answer the door. Then she reached over to take the girl in her arms as before. "I'm sorry 'Miri-chan," she replied with an honestly sad tone. "I can't keep you away from your mother."

"Why?" The little girl looked about to burst into tears and Sora wiped at her eyes to catch the tears as she had on occasion before.

"Because little one," she replied now brushing loose hair from the younger's face. "No matter how much I love you and you love me, we don't share blood and the law says I don't get to pick what happens to you."

"Wha's law?"

"Law is rules for adults."

"It's stoopid."

"Yes it is," Sora answered with a smile. The doorbell had finally quit sounding but the absense was even worse. Rising to her feet, Sora continued speaking to Amiri. "Come on dear, let's dry your eyes and make you all pretty for you mother so she doesn't think your daddy made you sad."

The young girl said 'k' but gave a terribly cute pout as Sora carried her out of the room towards the entryway.

Sakura was awoken from her trip down "memory lane" with a sound she hated to hear: a Child crying. "Please don't cry Scarlett, I promise it gets a little easier over...oh." She turned to see Sora carying a puffy-eyed Amiri towards the door.

"Oh...um...Sora?" She raced over to get to the two before they reached the door. "Would you mind if...um...Amiri...I'd like to say goodbye to you." Her hands dove into her pockets were ripping and shuffling sounds could be heard. "Here, take this. Anytime you feel sad like you were before, you can use this, and I promise I'll do everything in my power to make you smile." She droped a paper in Amiri's hand, "But there's a catch okay? This will only work if you do your very best to be a good girl, not that I think it'll be any trouble for a Yakiri like you." Her lips breifly landed on Amiri's cheek before she joined their march to the front door.

As they neared they could hear angered voices and though she tried to tune them out, Sora couldn't help hearing them.

"And if I had slept with the judge you'd be the one only seeing her every other weekend."

* * *

Well I would love to get reviews! If you have any questions I can gladly answer them (providing it's not something that I plan on revealing later).

I'm actually quite happy with how things are going, and it's all thanks to Sora-San ^^


	5. Bottle It Up

From the doorway a shrill voice could be heard, "How dare you say that! You see, this is why I got custody. If she spent all her time around a man who can so easily make lies and accusations, she'll turn out to be just another punk." Her foot tapping had gotten to a speed that was unbearable for any bystander to watch, "Now where is she...Kai and I have plans for tonight...I don't want to delay them..."

After what seemed like forever, the three of them made it to the door. "Oh, there you are sweety! Look Kai is in the car waiting for you, why don't you go and say hi to him?" She waited a bit for Amiri to be out of earshot, "Hmph, and you made a comment about me having guys over and look at you. You've got her," She pointed at Sora, her voice drenched in a macabre of sweetness, "and a girl who looks like she belongs in In Terms Of Lolita." She gave Sakura a once over, her eyes fixed on a few of her cuts and the blood on the shirt. "Hah, look at her, you couldn't even wait for your daughter to leave before you went off on one of your sick fantasies...well she doesn't look like she minds...poor lost child...but really why were you so eager to get Amiri back early." Her eyes now slowly trailed up Sora before a smirk played on her lips. If it weren't for Amiri slowly making her way back her smirk would have held, but instead she softened into a disgustingly sweet smile. "Oh sweetie, do you have all your things? Well make sure to say goodbye." After all was said and done, on her way back to the car she lifted her hand to wave, "See you later...oh and if you would like to continue this "trend" I could always "talk" to the Judge for you and make them even shorter, ne?"

Barely hiding her disgust, Sora was the last one to comment before the car sped away, before Amiri was even properly buckled in. "Wonderful as ever to see you too, Tsubaki-san." The honorific tacked on the ending only served as further insult, particularly with the tone she used.

Sakura couldn't help but curl her lips, {Man...fuck that bitch...}, and walk, or rather stomp, back into the house, "Με το Artemis θα μπορεί αυτή να μαστίζεται από εφιάλτες"

The brunette slammed the door with all the force she could muster. The whole wall seemed to shake from the force but she didn't pay it any mind.

"That witch! I can not believe something like that could be allowed to exist..."

The fire in her eyes when she turned to the red head took a more devious look. "Are you sure you still don't want me to steal her away? With my skills no cop would ever find a clue and there's countless places we could hide her. Maruia could watch her if you want her close or Cassidy to keep her completely safe and Shichi-kun would surely bring you to her whenever you want."

Kurama let her rant as they headed back to rejoin the others. As of late he had entertained her notions but they both knew he would always say no. Still, it was extremely tempting to say yes. "You know I can't allow you to do that..."

"What about killing the witch then?" Even in such a temper, Sora had a steady enough mind not to swear. It was a byproduct of her unusually sheltered childhood, and one she'd never seriously tried to drop. "You'd get full custody then and no one would ever solve it. Heck, they wouldn't even find her body if I didn't want them to, though that would make legal matters take forever..."

He offered her a complicated look and she dropped the matter. His expression clearly showed her how close he was to agreeing, and no matter how sincerely she meant the offers he couldn't say yes even once. When something happened to the witch, because people like that always get killed eventually, she had to be able to honestly say no if questioned whether he ever asked anyone for her to die. Lying was another area her childhood had failed in teaching her, and another she couldn't pull off even now.

Looking for a quick subject change her mind touched on something she'd only barely caught during the fury that was Hurricane Bitch. Brown eyes flicked towards Sakura as she spoke, questioning her. "What was that you said anyway? I used to know the sound of most languages but I'm not much good at that anymore."

Sakura stopped and looked at Sora, her eyes looking a little darker than usual, the air around her seeming a little warmer and if you looked close enough, you could swear her blond was becoming purple.

"Huh...oh...well they were both in two different languages...one was Greek and the other a very old language that I don't remember the name for it." She leaned in and smirked, "I know it's wrong of me but I said, Man fuck that bitch...and the Greek was just an old Greek curse I guess you could say."

Her smirk grew darker as Sakura's mind flashed to the nightmare's she knew she had given that...that bitch. "I swear if she doesn't pull over and buckle that girl in and get her home safely...Θα γίνουν εφιάλτες της ..."

Sakura stalked over towards the glass door and slid down so it was supporting her weight.

'Heh...I'm so pissed I don't even care if these people are working for them...you know what...I could use a fight...let them come...'

She barked out a bitter laugh. It was then she eyed the group playing poker, all of whom seemed to have death-grips on their cards. 'Sharp ears huh...'

"Hey...Urameshi-San, right? Put down the card that's third in from the left..."

"Huh..uh..oka-HEY! I win!"

'That'll hopefully lighten the mood a little...man...I'm so tired...oh wait!'

"Um...Minamino-San...I'm sorry if this is a bad time...but I was wondering why you have Edelweiss as your doorbell sound?"

The red head almost missed the question, causing him to pause a few moments before he offered any sort of answer to her. Not that his answer was all that helpful.

"You could call it something of a memento," he answered finally. "It brings back pleasant memories from my past."

Sakura let out a small laugh, "Well there you go...we have something in common."

"So, you all don't suppose I could go get my things now?" She looked up at them with a sad smile. "I really don't want to leave it all out there..."

"You're not to leave this building until we're sure you're healed up well enough that you won't collapse again," Kurama countered. "If you're intent on collecting your things tonight then any of the healers in this room can treat you." He inclined his head first towards Yukina then Sora who had come to sit back on the couch again. She didn't respond to the conversation, her expression one of deep thought as she stared off into open space.

He continued as though nothing was unusual. "But I still strongly suggest that you don't go alone. We have no idea whether it was a medical condition that caused you to faint or if you were attacked. There are many dangerous creatures in the forest, bears and the like, and you'll be safer with someone who knows the area going along."

"Well thank you for your concern, but I can assure you that I know my way around any animal...or hunter in the woods. But, since you've been so kind, I will respect your wishes for a healer. Sora-San would you mind if I stole you away?"

The brunette was only mildly surprised she was asked for help, although logically there would be no way for Sakura to know Yukina was the better trained Healer in the room. They might only be on equal level because Sora had practiced often, tending to the team's wounds on more than a couple cases.

Sakura stood in her spot for a bit, shifting from foot to foot before she walked over to Minamino-San and placed her arms around him in a tight hug. "This may be very brash and uncomfortable, but I can't help but do it...I am very sorry...believe me I know how it feels." She gave him a small smile before letting go.

That surprise jumped far higher when Sakura embraced their host, but it settled again when she caught a glimpse of the shock on his face as she looked to question him silently. His expression showed, to her at least, just how clueless he was on the reasoning behind the hug. Then the new girl was gone, heading towards the bathroom once more. Rising from the couch, Sora followed after to the partially shut door. Habit made her knock. A small part of her ability might let her sense intentions, but there were times the signals got crossed and even a few people who acted differently than their intentions suggested. Learning from those failures, she'd made it a natural reaction to double-check her guesses all the time.

'Hmm...how do I not make this awkward and still tell her about all of this...can she really heal some of this...' Her mind began to wander as she let out a small sigh, 'Heh...you know he smells so good...ug great now I feel like a creeper...but...' She sighed again as she brought her knees up, wrapped her arms around them and placed her head on top of the whole bundle of limbs and just thought.


	6. MoneyHoney

This time the question was merely a softly spoken use of the other female's name. "Sakura?"

"Oh, uh yeah...hey come on it...I didn't lock it...Thanks...by the way"

She entered and shut the door behind her in almost the same motion. It clicked shut softly before she spoke. "It's really no problem, I've fixed up several people countless times." A gentle smile was offered. "Besides, if you have the skill why not help others with it?"

Sakura nodded and pulled herself up, stretching out a little, after a few pops and cracks she sighed happily, "So um...how do you want to do this, or rather...what will you...or can you...heal? I mean...I do...ummm"

'Crap this is embarassing...'

"Well, to be honest I've never tested the limits of my ability," she admitted. "Although I have managed a few remarkable feats over the years, so if I had to guess, hm..." She paused to consider the question fully. "I suppose I could fix any problem that developed, anything that changed your body from it's natural state. If someone was born unable to walk I couldn't help, but if it was a car accident or something then I could. Does that make sense?"

She nodded and pulled out the inhaler, placed it on the desk and smiled, "Don't worry, I don't want you to try and fix my asthma, I didn't have it from birth, but it doesn't bother me...what does bother me is this."

The sleeve of the shirt she was wearing shifted until the big, disgusting red stuff showed.

"Ick." The comment was instinctive, and strangely so for one who spent much of her time patching up injured people. Blood didn't bother her at all, not even the occcasions it got on her, but there were some sights that surprised her especially when she didn't expect them. Moving her gaze from the stain to Sakura's face she schooled her expression to stay purely calm.

"What happened? If I know where to look then it tends to go faster." Not that it was a long process under her power, especially in comparison to natural healing.

"TB happened...I contracted it from...well I contracted it when I was younger...I've not been treating it with medicine, so lately it's been getting worse and it's just exasberating my asthma...so if you know how to get rid of this...that would be...I mean I wouldn't know how to...I'd..." She paused for a little cough, this time only a little bit of the disgusting stuff landed on the shirt, but holding all of this is for so long had taken it's toll. Her hands gluided over to the edge of the sink counter and helped guide her body down in front of it. "I'm...going...to sit here...just for a bit."

"Of course," the brunette answered the last with a small nod. "Now there's a small chance this might hurt you a bit more before it's done, I'm never completely sure how anyone will react the first time. You'll also probably want to rest for a full day to recover your lost energy. The method I use requires some of your energy alongside my own."

'Ah...another day...hmm...shoot...'

Sakura nodded, "It's okay...I'll deal." She gave a soft smile before sighing, "Though I don't like the idea of having to rest here for another day..." Her eyes shifted around the bathroom uncomfortably, expecting at any moment someone would jump out from behind the shower curtain, or burst through one of the three doors, or even the window.

The other female's nervousness was easily noticed, and she decided to try and soothe the possible fear. Though she didn't know Sakura's past at all she had known enough damaged people to make a couple guesses. "Well if you feel uncomfortable staying here alone with a strange guy you could stay at my place? There's a spare room you can spend the night in and there won't be anyone there other than my 'daughter' and I." The inflection on the word was just obvious enough to be noticeable.

"Oh? You have a "Daughter"?" She smiled over at her, 'Hmmm I don't think she'd be working for them and use a kid...that'd just be too low...'

"If I wouldn't be too much trouble, I guess that would be much better...but please do not take my reluctance to stay here as being ungrateful...or for not liking anyone here it's just...well it's hard to explain..." Sakura gave a reasuring smile. "So umm...how do we go about this? Do I need to lie down?"

"I do," she nodded. There was no point in responding to the following comments and so she skipped to the end and answered that question. "And we can do this however you'd like to do it. Lying down is good but even just sitting should work fine."

Standing was no problem either, but she worried the energy expenditure might cause Sakura to collapse so she didn't mention it.

Sakura nodded her head and slid further down until she was lying on the bathroom floor. 'Ah, I love the cool feeling of linolium' She giggled lightly.

"Oh...um since you said that it might be very painful, if I happen to become unconscious could you please tell Minamino-San that I am sorry about his shirt and will get him a new one?"

"Oh you needn't worry about that." Sora knelt so she was beside Sakura on the ground, close enough to touch her forehead if she reached out her arm. "He's ruined many a shirt of his own so one more is nothing. We all have actually," she added with a laugh.

"Are you ready then?"

Sakura laughed and nodded her head. "I'll feel better though and I'll try to not be a bother"

"Alright then."

Even as the words left her mouth the brunette had closed her eyes. It wasn't a necessity but it helped summon the unusual energy for the technique she was about to perform. Habit brought her hands to her chest as if she were holding a ball as she took a breath. The air going out was slow and steady and she opened her eyes before drawing in more air. To those that could see it, she was surrounded now by a deep magenta glow.

Sakura took a sharp breath inwards as her body began to glow, 'I've only heard of this technique...and a spell like it...but both are extremely dangerous...wha-'

Brown eyes turned immediately to the resting figure and her hands moved, the left falling to her waistline and the right going up to touch her chest at the heart. Only two fingers touched, the pointer and the next, and they stayed for just a moment before moving to touch the center of her forehead. Her hand almost seemed to leave a trail as she reached over to place her fingers above Sakura's heart.

Teeth clenched and her body shook when she could almost feel something large in her begin to move, painfully. Small tears began to form at the corner of her eyes, and she made a small whimper. Her mind raced for something to focus on when it hit her, 'I've always heard that it was impossible for humans to do this...' With that she was able to ignore with the rest of the pain, as was her usual technique.

On her side the reaction was immediate. This was a rare and mostly unique brand of Healing, only one other person in the country had anything remotely similar. The technique created a temporary bond between both bodies, giving the Healer a faint sense of the other's body, energy, and injuries. With training the Healer could learn to manipulate these senses within their own body, which in turn reflected back to the other person. The technique minimized the energy use to Heal another but was highly dangerous because any tiny mistake in the Healer's body could manifest into a far worse problem for the patient.

Though there were countless traces of injuries never completely fixed and pains yet to be alleviated, Sora turned her focus immediately to the most pressing issue. She couldn't help a small smile as she glanced over the recent injuries. Whoever had worked on those had done a decent job with human methods and she decided to leave those to finish healing on their own. The option to only partially treat was a risky one, but Sora had an extrememly high amount of practice with the technique, both in theory and in practice.

Even if she didn't know what she was looking for before, there was no doubt now. The infection itself was the same pit of darkness that all illnesses seemed to manifest as in this state. Feeding energy into the black hole, she worked carefully to reverse the infection's growth and move it outside Sakura's body. Though the nature of the bond only allowed for transferring between the two bodies she had found there was a way to suspend an alien substance between both in the physical manifestation of the shared link. A successful poison removal that nearly killed her had taught Sora the value of not allowing anything through into her own form.

Time had lost meaning as it always did as she concentrated and so it could have been an hour or only five minutes when finally only the core of the original disease remained, hovering in the air between them. Sora brought her right hand up to touch her own forehead with two fingers as before, then down to her heart. The glow around both girls vanished before she even pulled her hand back and something dark fell out of the air, which landed in her waiting open left hand. The brunette reached across Sakura to the toilet paper dispenser and grabbed a handful, which she proceeded to ball around the black orb in her hand before throwing all of it away.

All that was left now was to see if the other female was still conscious or not.

'When this is over I have to remember to see if I can sense anything...' And just like that it was done.

She let out a final sigh, relaxed and looked up, "Domo Sora-San". She pushed herself back up and stretched until everything in her cracked.

"Um...I really don't know how to thank you." She quickly embraced Sora and smiled, "I've had to deal with this for so long...I kind of forgot how it felt to be...healthy I guess is the word."

Her arms dropped from around Sora and she bowed. "Thank you so much for giving me back this feeling."

"It wasn't any trouble for me," Sora replied casually as Sakura offered her thanks. "I've had a bit of good luck so why not pass along what I can to the next person in need?"

She smiled again and took a deep breath, "So...are you any good at Poker?"

Then came the question about poker and she laughed. "No good at all in that area actually."

Sakura had opened the door then and the sounds of a possible fight filled the air, sending both girls towards the other room where everyone was gathered.

"DAMNIT URAMESHI THAT'S CHEATING!"

"WELL I WOULDN'T CHEAT IF YOU DIDN'T CHEAT!"

After that she heard some crashing noises and out of pure reflex she ran over to the rest of the group and flinched, "Ah! Please don't punish...ah" She stoped mid-sentence when she realized what almost happened.

Though she was several steps behind, Sora managed to hear what Sakura almost said before stopping herself. That, along with the level of fear and anxiety that welled up inside her as she spoke, confirmed the belief the girl was hiding stuff from them but now was not the time to deal with that so the brunette put it temporarily out of her mind.

'I really need to learn to keep my mouth shut.' After a few moments of awkward silence she laughed and pointed to the destroyed pile of cards and the broken glasses. "So I'm assuming this game is over? How about I clean up this mess while one of you deals me in...and no cheating."

Before anyone could protest she winked and began picking up the glass with her hands. When she was finished she stood up and walked towards the kitchen, "Um Minamino-San, where is your garbage?"

The volume jumped immediately back to normal after Sakura wanted to join the game and suddenly Kurama found Sakura looking his way as she waited for the answer to a question he almost didn't hear. "It's in the lower cabinet to the left of the sink," he replied after a moment's thought to recall her question. "I can show you?" he offered.

Sakura shook her head, "I should be able to find it thanks." In a few moments she had thrown out the glass shards and washed her hands. "So...what's the game?" She called over, "Five card draw, Egyptian Rat Screw, Baseball, President, 21 towers, Black Jack, etc?"

"What are some of the games you mentioned..." Kuwabara was apparently the only one brave enough to let it be known that he didn't know those games.

"Well I'm sure you've played five card draw and black jack...the rest aren't really betting games, but you can make them bettering games...hmmm oh? Do you know Gin Rummy?" By now she had joined everyone and hand her hand on the deck.

Yusuke gave a devilish smile, "Oh not at all...let's play it...but we play dollar cups, not coin cups."

"I thought you didn't know how to play?" The smirk on her face looked nearly predatory before she sat down and started shuffling. "So, who's in?"

Kuwabara and Yusuke immediately raised their hands, Shiziru waited a bit before raising her hand...and Botans hand.

"I think I'll sit this out."

"Me too."

Keiko and Yukina sat on the couch across from the table, "Anybody else? I should warn you, I'm pretty good."

While Sakura had been gathering people into the game Sora had taken Kurama off to the side to mention what she'd noticed and to question him more about the situation. They had just finished exchanging the important stuff when Sakura's challenge filled the air, to which Sora immediately responded. It wasn't as though she was intentionally walking away from the painful questions that would come next, luck just ran in her favor at the moment.

"I'd take you up on that offer but only if we get a practice round first." This reply came from the female across the room.

She was only a couple steps from the table when she spoke again, trying to keep her mind off the emerald gaze she was sure had been trained on her back.

"It's been a couple years since I last played and I wanna refresh myself on all the rules," she explained as she claimed an empty spot.

Sakura nodded and dealt out the first hand, "Okay, everyone ready? Now Yusuke-San, I believe you start." In her hand, she had already organized her cards according to suit, color and number. While she waited for the round to come back around, her fingers drummed against the table as she hummed a light-hearted song.

Checking her cards Sora found she had an incredibly lucky hand and within four rounds she could have won the game. As she reached out to take the winning card she hesitated, a thought crossing her mind as she glanced around the table nervously. Instead of taking the winning one, she drew from the deck and discarded a card that had previously been part of a set in her hand.

Following that she spent each turn setting up a hand that was almost winning but just far enough to lose greatly when the practice round finally ended. Surprisingly it was the chipper reaper who bested them all. It was just a practice round though.

As everyone was offering congratulations to Botan, Sora grabbed together the cards to shuffle and deal again. "Well I remember now so whose in again?"

'I wonder what that hesitation was for?' Sakura smirked at Sora after the practice round, but bit her tongue...after all, two can, and have, play that game. Hell, she even let herself come in last.

"Ahaha what was that Sakura, about being good?" Yusuke couldn't help but try and rub her nose in it.

"Hai, Hai Yusuke-San you are right, I guess I just never played against such good players before." One could almost hear the roll of her eyes in her head as she spoke.

'Next round...I'm destroying him...a girl's got her pride.'

"I'm in."

"Any chance to beat her again and I'm in!" Yusuke snorted.

'...I'm taking everything he's got now...'

Apparently just teasing Sakura wasn't enough for "The Great Yusuke-San", so he turned his attentions onto one of the silent bystanders.

"I doubt you'll want in huh Kurama? I heard that even Kuwabara beat you at cards."

"Hey! I'm not that bad!" Kuwabara protested, only to hear more of Yusuke's snickering.

"You always loose...but man, Kurama for you to loose to him must mean you really suck, huh?"

'HUH?'

Sakura nearly fell out of her chair, "Ahaha is there another person here...?" Her head had not stopped looking around for him as she spoke.

"Ahahaha whoops..." Yusuke had messed up before...but this was just stupid. Desperation took over and Yusuke spat out the first excuse he could think of, "Chii-yeah that's Shuuichi's nickname...since his brother is also named Shuuichi we gave him the nickname Kurama because he reminds us of... the...moutain..." It wasn't the best ever, but it would be enough to get him off the hook...hopefully.

At that moment enough was enough and "Kurama" joined in the round, in place of Shiziru who had decided she was in need of a cigarette break.

Before the game Sakura let out a small laugh, "Well with a name like that you would expect him to be good at a strategy game...especially one that involves taking money from someone else." She shook her head with another laugh before the absolute need to organize her cards distracted her from talking.

Fifteen minutes, Yusuke was out $50, "Kurama" was out $20, Kuwabara and Botan were both out $5, while Sakura and Sora were both up $40.

"Ahahaha Oh Yusuke-San you must have just had a stroke of bad luck or something...I mean how could the Great Yusuke-San have...oh...what's the right term...?" Sakura wafted her hands around in the air as if she didn't actually know what she was going to say.

"I believe what you're looking for is sucked enough to be $30 behind the person in the second to last place...man you suck!" Kuwabara chortled, eager to take place in teasing Yusuke.

'Not what I was looking for but it will do' Sakura laughed with him a bit longer before turning to Sora, "Sora-San, you are quite the worthey opponent!"

Said female laughed at the compliment and turned to Sakura to reply. "You are as well," she replied. "Perhaps we should have a marathon of sorts sometime to see which of us really is better."

Her gaze remained on the other female because to turn back would mean meeting vivid green with a determined questioning behind them. That she seemed to win the most of his money was a circumstance she couldn't help but think he'd rigged to force her hand. He wanted answers that she didn't want to give so why not try blackmail. Surely he could read her well enough to know which hands she was bound to win, to know when to wager more or not. His own skill should be as high as her own or Saura's too, and she was sure he knew she knew it. That he lost was a red flag that something was in the works; something she didn't want to think about and probably wouldn't like.

It was then, shortly after her question to the new female, that Sora's phone decided to go off. It only rang once but she dug into her pocket to fish it out anyway and when she did it started to ring again. By the second ring she was answering the call, turning to face away from the table but the one-sided conversation could still be heard. "What? ... Why's he... Ok, well don't let him go... No no, you know... Good, you're wonderful. I'll be back soon, love."

She stood as she turned back to face the table. "Sorry everyone, minor emergency at home so I need to leave now. We should totally do this again soon." A smile and a habitually bow followed in which her pile of bills vanished from the table into her pocket. Hanging with the ex-king of thieves did offer useful tricks. As she straightened again her eyes darted to Sakura. "Oh right. Were you still interested in taking me up on that offer?"

"Ah..." Sakura was so tempted to agree for them to have a marathon and to play with everyone again...but she knew it would be a bad idea.

'Oh get over it girl...it was fun, just be happy you have some more good memories.'

She was pulled out of her thoughts when she realized Sora was talking to her, "Oh...yes...if it's not to much trouble...sorry" With a push she was up from the table and over by the girls only to discovered that her original shirt was in fact, destroyed.

'Yeah after that week...I don't blame a shirt for falling apart...I'm still shocked by these pants though...'

It was then that it hit her, she probably wasn't going to see these kind people again.

'Oh...so they really will be just memories.' Tears began to well up at the sides of her eyes, 'You get attatched too easily...' She shook her, effectively shaking away the tears.

"Um...thank you all again for your kindness...I really don't know how to thank you properly. But please believe me when I say you all have my deepest gratitude."

Her head was down in a bow before she looked back up at "Kurama".

'Ah...I never did get to ask him why he has that scent...'

"Oh...Minamino-San? I'm still sorry about your shirt and I do plan, however unessecary, to replace it...thank you so much for taking me in and letting me stay here."

She almost turned around to leave before adding something incredibly important, "OH! Please tell Amiri that I say goodbye and that she's got a great soul?"

Yukina didn't know exactly why, but she felt as if Sakura was saying goodbye not to just them, but to everything. She kept it to herself for the time being, but she couldn't help but get a little misty-eyed at Sakura. 'I'll have to see what Kazuma thinks...'

Sakura's comments were met with kind responses from everyone she spoke to and a chorus of good-byes clueless to the fact that hers were given in a more permanent sense. Sora saw no need to point any of this out however, content simply to watch as Sakura finally headed towards the door before turning that way herself.

At some point the red head had circled around the table and was now directly in the path she had to take to leave. Mentally Sora sighed but outwardly she put on a smile as she approached him. Before he could open his mouth to speak she had reached up and caught his lips with hers. Her left arm went back behind his head to keep him from trying to pull away as her right helped keep her balance. She was several inches shorter so to claim a kiss without his prior knowledge ran the risk of landing her on the floor; for more reasons than one.

Contrary to her expectations, he neither pulled back nor allowed, or forced, her to fall, just returned the kiss with the same intensity they had once shared. It was everything it had ever been, washing over either of them in a flood of memories and his arms even came to rest on her waist as they hadn't in years. It was almost enough to lose herself in but under all the love there was a sharp pang of regret, made stronger because she didn't deserve this and he didn't deserve the false promise in it.

When she finally made herself pull away the pain was stronger than it had been in years, but strangely it made the smile that came to her lips just a little bit more honest.

"I still miss you," she whispered in the code that meant the kiss was nothing but friendship and her own regret.

"I swear we'll talk again soon."

Then she was moving away from him, slipping out of his grasp too easily to be possible but she did it. And he never said a word as she passed through the doorway beside him to catch up to Sakura.


	7. Cabaret

The trip back to town had taken a good 20 minutes with another 10 to get to the apartment complex and up to her floor but finally Sora was opening the door to her own place.

The door opened into an open space with a kitchen on the left. It was long and appeared narrow with no door to separate it from the rest of the space. The right side held an oval table surrounded by 6 chairs off to the right. The shape of the table was clearly intended to fit into the given space as a circle would have left little room to move around. A divider came shortly beyond there, a partially wall that only came up about waist high and served as a counter more often than anything else. The rest of the space was set up as a living room or family room with a couple couches, tables and even a t.v. in the corner against the kitchen wall. Along the farther wall from the entrance was a sliding glass door that led out to a balcony and another door that opened into a bedroom. Past the kitchen there were three more doors, the middle one leading to the bathroom and the other two were another bedroom each, though the doors were closed now.

There were no pictures on the walls and few other indicators that anyone lived there. A few pairs of shoes sat by the door, some dishes were drying on a rack by the kitchen sink and a backpack sat beside the living room table with papers scattered on top of it. They were the only thing out of place, as if someone had dropped them suddenly and not cared where they landed.

"It's hardly the impressive place it was when I started renting, but the novelty of living somewhere new does wear off fast I've found." There was a tone in her voice that said she knew about adjusting to new places frequently and disliked it too. Unsure what else to say now she added the next as if musing to herself. "It's nothing compared to the place Shuuichi owns..."

It was all Sakura could do to look at Sora spoke, so it was almost a miracle when she was able to smile and actually ask a question, "You two use to be quite the thing huh?"

While speaking she somehow managed to take off her shoes and was now swaying. Thankfully she caught herself on the wall, she leaned against it and closed her eyes; apparently somewhere between the healing and the car ride here, she'd lost all her energy and was running purely on reserves.

'Don't fall asleep, don't fall asleep, don't fall asleep.' She prayed silently, but it was no use, before she could realize it, she was curled up against the wall, deep in sleep.

Hands pulled and prodded at a small figure curled up in the corner, a distant voice could be heard cooing "Oh, come now little girl, come out of that corner, it'll be easier."

The young girl shook her head and was about to bite back some nasty word or other until she heard an agonizing scream, "AH! Leave her alone!" She growled and turned to face the faceless crowd.

When no-one backed off she tried again, "I'm warning you not to hurt her!" Another low sound came from her throat when she heard another scream, this one weaker than the other. Again she tried to threaten, but something round and squishy was thrown into her mouth, she tried to bite at it, but nothing happened other than her mouth becoming more and more uncomfortable. More hands pulled at her, only this time it wasn't just her they were trying to remove. Her eyes widened and she tried to struggle, gleeful giggles could be heard from the stinking things around her.

"My, my...this one sure is enjoying this, I'm sure you will...stop fighting."

The girl whimpered and closed her eyes to get the image of her friend thrown out of her head. Images of a woman tied to a ceremonial slate, crying took the other images' place, forcing the young girl to open her eyes and let out a strangled whimper.

Pain shot through her and she tried to cry out again, "Oh hush and relax, you have to get over it or else you will just never do." The same man taunted as he shook a finger in front of the young girl's face; his tone suddenly changed to a much deeper one as a smile that lit up the scare on his face and showed his crooked teeth, "Besides you're going to be her for a while...you might as well learn to survive."

Loud cracking sound proceeded that of a young woman moaning, "Now, now, where's the scream?" A disgusting man huffed as he walked out of the room and to the guard outside, "She's just no good, no good. Don't you have one that yells?"

The young woman could not see the guard past the fat flaps of the man that had just left her, all she could do was hear the name Scarlett. Through coughing the young woman managed to yell out, enticing the pile of filth to go back into the room.

A few children sat around a pile of cloth on the floor and whimpered and cried, oblivious to the woman walking into the room with a grateful sigh, "Good you guys haven't been taken out yet."

One of the girls, a long haired red head, ran over to her and hugged her at her waist, burying her face into the woman's abdomen and effectively soaking a spot on her shirt .

"Hey, hey, what's wrong...did you guys get in trouble?"

Her hands clenched along with her jaw, 'I told them I would take their punishments...I swear if any of them have a new-' She was interrupted when she finally noticed the pile of cloth on the floor.

"Ah, I told Shira not to leave her clothes like that...they'll get filthy and then she'll have to..." As she walked up to the clothes, the world around her dissipated until all she could see was an empty home and all she could hear was the awful ticking that seemed to get louder and louder.

"They're late" Was all that came out of her mouth as she dropped next to the "pile of clothing" and cradled the stiff, cold mess inside of it. After her friend was thrown out into the streets where she knew she'd be seen as "another junkie who wasn't careful with her needles and ended up dying from something as ironically insignificant as a cold", and after a few hours of trying to cry, she had made up her mind, she was leaving.

Finally, nothing but black. It was the one thing she could have wished for, she was finally about to feel free and happy...then it happened. Her body became engulfed in sound as screams bounced off the walls of the darkness. Each scream became physically painful until she couldn't take it, "Why are you screaming? Stop it!"

The screams became louder and red flashes appeared in front of her eyes. She could do nothing now but cry and apologize. "I'm so...so...I'm so sorry Scarlett, please...please be okay...be strong...I'm sorry." She became louder and louder, her tears coming stronger and stronger until it stopped and a babies cry could be heard as she felt her body drop as she screamed and flailed about in the darkness for something, someone to grab onto.

A young brunette sat on the couch but looked up again from her homework as the screams began anew. Blue-green eyes watched as the woman on the other couch started to thrash about. That was new. Moving with a trained grace, the girl, she couldn't be older than early teens, crossed over to the other couch. She was of average height and weight with short hair and gentle features; a pretty girl though not one to ever be labeled gorgeous.

Sitting carefully on the side of the couch to prevent the unknown woman from falling off as she tossed about, the younger female glanced off towards the bedroom her surrogate mom had headed into shortly after they moved this woman to sleep on the couch. A situation had come up, one that normally would be nothing to worry about except this time there was a stranger in the house. A stranger who seemed in need of her mom's help just as surely as whoever she had gone off to help this time. The teen considered calling but her phone was in the side compartment of her backpack where she'd left it and that was far out of reach. She was just considering picking up the landline to call, it was on a table closer to the couch than her backpack was, when she heard a door open and close.

"Is she alright?" Sora asked as she approached. "I heard screaming."

The girl nodded. "I think it's only nightmares. Horrible ones, but just dreams." The older brunette nodded now, almost to herself, as the younger continued. "She started moving around a lot in her sleep and I didn't want her to fall so I came over to help."

"Good idea. It's too bad I don't know how to fix memories like I can injuries. The worst pain is always the intangible ones."

"So what did he want?" the teen asked, noticing the changing mood of the room.

"Just the usual," she sighed. "He dislikes my stance and wants to change my mind because of what you can do."

"He called you a dangerous loose end when he showed up..."

"I'm only dangerous to those who make trouble for my loved ones. It's high time he learned that. Though I'm more curious how he found where we live..."

"How did you make him leave?" There was genuine curiosity in the lighter voice. "I'm never fast enough and he treats everything I say as an empty threat."

Sora gave a smirk. "Just remind him that he might be invincible but your mom knows where to find his brother and mother and knows just who to send after them."

With one final jerk, Sakura woke, covered in a cold sweat, barely missing colliding heads with the young brunette above her. It took her about a minute to stop panicking and remember she wasn't "there" anymore. Before she tried to speak she fished in her pocket for the cold L again, and took two puffs before sighing and turning to finally notice the young woman beside her.

"Oh...OH!" She jumped back and looked up and down and the girl.

'Okay...she's not Sora-San...wait...didn't she say she had a daughter?'

"Umm...hi?" The embarrassment of being seen having a nightmare, and being seen in that state had made Sakura temporarily meek and hard to hear.

"Are you Sora-San's...um...daughter?" She attempted a smile, and ended up giving something similar to "the creeper smile".

'Ug...I'm too shaken to even process how to smile...great...she probably thinks I'm going to offer her candy to get in my van next...'

Sakura groaned a little and dropped her head.

'Yeah, great first impression...I seem to be having a lot of those today...'

After a bit of thinking to herself, Sakura, once again noticed the young woman by her. "Ah, sorry...I was just thinking to myself..." She looked to the floor and saw scattered papers, they looked like...homework?

"Oh no! I'm so sorry! I must have disturbed you while you were doing homework!"

She jumped over to the pile and started picking them up and placing them in a nice neat pile on the currently unoccupied couch, all the while keeping the blond part of her hair in view of her face. Behind her cover, Sakura bit her lip to keep it from quivering and blinked to get the re-forming tears out of her eyes.

When she felt presentable enough, she finally stood and turned to face the young woman.

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Sakura Tsuki." This time, her smile looked normal.

The youngest in the room just blinked as Sakura moved about, talking as she did. She hadn't expected the sudden flurry of activity and sat speechless for a moment. When Sakura revealed her name the girl finally found her voice.

"Ah... yes. Don't worry about that stuff, it's just notes for a class that I was copying for a classmate. She's been out sick for a week and the teacher knows I keep good notes."

She felt awkward rambling about school like this to someone she didn't know at all but if she'd been brought here then she couldn't be a bad person. Their home was something of a safe haven, if only to those led here. The last comments came back to mind now and she answered. "I'm Tanya. It's nice to meet you too."

Sora remained silent where she stood, still behind the couch. Sakura had missed noticing her, which surprised her a bit, but she took the chance to watch the two interact. Tanya was a decent judge of character when she opened herself up so it would be interesting to watch.

Sakura smiled, "Tanya huh? That's a pretty name. Sounds American." Her hands brushed over some dirt that was left on her pants from the day..well week, prior.

"I've never been so America, but I kind of want to after meeting someone very sweet from there." It was a strange statement yes, but she couldn't help but think of him after those...nightmares. He was her last good memory in a very long time.

"You guess well," she replied. "I was born in Louisiana, in the southern pat of the country." She paused, almost about to say more but instead retreated. "It was strange at first, when I moved here, but now that I know the language and customs it's much easier."

It was true. Her Japanese was as fluent as anyone born in the country, and if right now she spoke a bit rigidly, a bit uncommonly formal, well, Sakura was an elder so custom dictated she speak as such. It was quite unlike Sora speaking to Sakura, using terms of friendship, of closeness, when she barely even knew her name.

"Yeah, I use to hear stories all the time about how different it is. I never heard about Louisiana though...well except in books and TV, everything I heard about was either about New York or Florida." Her eyes fluttered closed as she tried to picture the beautiful Autumns of New York as she once did.

"I really can't tell that you weren't born here though, your Japanese seems very good to me...you know, I heard once that the human mind can adjust quite quickly to pick up new languages when the person moves to a foreign country."

"The younger one is the easier it is to learn," she agreed. And it was then the third occupant came into the conversation.

"She means submergence into a culture makes it easier to learn." Sora stepped into the room as she spoke, looking to the younger brunette to indicate the direction of her conversation. "You picked up the language much easier by living here and being surrounded by it than someone does who only hears it in a classroom."

Sakura jumped when she heard Sora's voice. 'Holy crap...didn't even see her...'

She dropped herself to rest on the same couch as Tanya and the contrast between the two was even more obvious. Sora still wore the casual clothing she'd worn at Kurama's earlier next to Tanya still dressed in her school uniform, the pressed blue fabric of Sariyashiki school color still looked crisp even after a day of classes. They both had brown hair but the younger's was darker and cut to about her chin while the older's was lighter and down her back. Even their eyes were different, the elder's brown compared to the teen's blue-green.

The differences screamed they were unrelated, unless the girl had her father's genetics, yet they sat together with a knowing familiarity that only comes when people share extreme situations. To the careful eye too, though they sat in very different positions there was a shared alertness. Both prepared to be out of their seat and moving at a moment's notice.

Sora turned her head towards Sakura as she spoke then offered a friendly smile. "I used to hear about it all the time in my Spanish class forever ago."

"Ah! Now I remember! I heard it from someone who use to live in the United States...I can just barely hear him tell me about how he picked up the language rather quickly when he had to move here...ah...but that was a while ago so maybe I'm remembering it incorrectly..."

Her weight shifted as she stood uncomfortably under the two brunette's gazes.

"Must be an American thing then," Sora commented with a laugh.

Tanya smiled slightly too but her calm demeanor returned swiftly and the younger brunette took a moment to speak to Sakura again. "You must be famished after how long you slept. Would you like anything to eat or drink?"

Though she spoke without hesitation the way she finished the sentence about Sakura sleeping suggested she had intended to say something different.

"I'm actually not hungry at all, thank you though." Rather than worry about her stomach, Sakura fixated herself on the strange way Tanya had spoken.

"Is everything alright?"

She gave a, what she hoped was, comforting smile, "Perhaps you are not feeling well?" Without thought, Sakura placed the back of her hand against Tanya's forehead lightly while placing the inside of her wrist against her own.

The teen hadn't expected this move from the strange woman and in a blink it seemed she was suddenly being examined for a fever. She sent a questioning look towards the woman she called mom but got one back in return. Only then did she pull away, speaking to answer the question asked of her health. "I'm fine, really... I just thought you might like something..."

Jumping in, Sora spoke right after.

"Are you a parent or did you just grow up with a lot of siblings? I haven't seen anyone look for temperature like that since I was little."

"Ah! Oh I'm so sorry!"

Sakura jumped back to her previous spot and riffled her hands through her bangs quickly to regain her composure.

"It's a bit hard to explain..."

The inside of her lower lip quickly became captive to her teeth as Sakura grinded at it in hopes to think of something to say and to get the idea of motherhood out of her head.

Finally, she came to a conclusion and shrugged, tossing her hands up lightly, "I guess you could say both...you could also say that I work with children, so it's sort of second nature..." Light pink appeared on her cheeks when she thought of how old...and a rather useless method it was.

"Uh..yeah it is an old way...but when you don't have a thermometer on hand...plus I've always felt it gives a sense of closeness...that someone cares for you..." She smiled awkwardly and cast her eyes downward to avoid embarrassing looks.

"Oh, don't take it the wrong way!" she backtracked quickly.

"I never meant there was anything wrong with the method, I simply haven't seen it in a long time. Parents tend to drop habits as their children age and I've never needed to do it is all." She tried to console Sakura with an added smile.

"I actually think it's rather sweet. It's just, if you have kids waiting at home for you then you should have mentioned it so we didn't keep you from them."

"Ah..." Sakura began to speak, but once again, she bit on her lip. Her hands clenched and she gave a small tremble.

Within a few seconds she shook herself and managed a little laugh, "No, no...I don't have anyone waiting for me at home." Surprisingly to her, her voice was rather light and whimsical.

'Too late...' She bit at the walls of her mind, causing her to quickly shake her head, which she tried to cover with another laugh.

The youngest female was the first to respond, though the woman she shared the couch with wore a saddened expression as Sakura laughed again. "Pardon me, I just remembered I still have homework to complete."

Without waiting on a reaction from either older female, she stood and strode over to where Sakura sat to collect her papers and bag, then crossed the room to the first door after the kitchen. As she left the room a portion of her bedroom was visible to Sakura before the door closed behind her. The walls were the same pale as the rest of the apartment and just as bare, but the top of the dresser held a number of picture frames and the corner of the comforter for the bed that could be seen was bright orange.

Sora remained silent after the door clicked shut and they could hear music turn on, too soft to hear lyrics. She glanced at the door but then looked back towards Sakura, averting her eyes so she didn't seem to be staring.

"Orange?"

She let out a small giggle, "Not to be nosy, but I think Orange is a good color for her." A small sigh escaped her lips, it was nice to see something so...young in Tanya's room. Though she chose not to mention it, which was most likely for the better, Sakura could just feel the overwhelming wave of emotions that seemed to come from her when she mentioned being American.

'A girl that young should not have to deal with feelings that strong...'

"I hope I didn't scare her with my actions...I'm sorry I can sometimes act without thinking when it comes to things like that..."

"No, it wasn't you," Sora replied absently as her gaze drifted to the closed bedroom door again. The words she used seeming to say there was a different cause than she would ever mention.

"Not really. She- well me either- we didn't expect you to do that. The surprise is what got her, but that's why people hate the unexpected so much after all."

She shook her head and when she spoke again her focus was back fully on Sakura. "Are you sure you don't want a drink or anything? I've hardly been the gracious host, not offering anything before this, but you fell asleep right away and we didn't want to wake you." The thought hung in the air as a quick silence passed between them.

"I would guess though that you haven't had much food in the past week and probably not much more to drink."

"Ah! Oh, no, no you've been great thank you!" Sakura bowed quickly, giving herself, yet again, a very awkward look and feel.

"Well truth be told, I can't really remember ever eating much of anything."

She shrugged and continued, loosing herself in thought and not paying much attention to what she said, "I really did try to eat a great deal the week before I fell asleep...I mean who wouldn't with all those wondrous restaurants...but I would sit down, feel nervous and rush on out before ordering, even at fast food chains I still felt too rushed. In the end I stuck to my bag and what rice, water and apples I had in there..."

Her eyes glanced down at her hands and she smiled, "Oh but don't worry, I stayed plenty hydrated...if there's one thing I know the importance of, it's drinking water. I mean hey, they even say that water helps to prevent wrinkles, and we can't have me looking old now can we?"

The last bit of her sentence sounded slightly bitter and quoted, but before there was time for that to settle in, Sakura was back at her point.

"Well anyways, I guess I'm just saying I'm fine thank you, I had a lot of water when I woke up this morning, and I just am not hungry." She smiled once more before finally taking a much needed breath.

Sora regarded her with a curious look. There had been more information delivered in those sentences than she could even pick out she decided, but she could at least comment on what she thought she caught quickest. "Why would you be rushed?" she asked in an unassuming tone before offering an unlikely but possible answer.

"You're not going to die soon or anything are you? I didn't notice anything that could kill you when I was treating you but I also didn't look too hard."

Sakura blanched and turned pale, "Oh? I guess I felt like I had so much to do and so little time to do it."

She smiled and took a step back, 'Oh no, I don't believe I'll die soon..unless of course some crazy accident happens, they do say life is too short, haha'

"Well dying soon only depends on if I get caught soo-Nyah!" Her hand came flying up over her mouth.

'Smooth move idiot...how are we going to explain this one away...shouldn't we not sit here in silence...?'

To try and cover, Sakura started to fake a cough...horribly, 'Guess your acting skills are shot for now.'

"Ehem, excuse me, I was trying to say dying soon only depends on if I get caught somewhere unfortunate...meaning if I happen to get stuck in the middle of something like a bombing or...something..."

Sora had been listening carefully but that last comment was uniquely appropriate to turn her attention from the topic. An involuntary shudder ran through her body at the word 'bombing' and for a moment her mind flickered away completely. Blinking she was back, but now distractions plagued her mind as she attempted to respond.

"Well we sure hope nothing of that sort does ever happen. although a bit of preparation beforehand does help in many minor crisis."

Silence greeted that awkward statement, though any response to it would have been awkward too. After a couple minutes with just the chime of the clock on the TV stand to entertain them, Sora finally spoke again.

"I know this may be prying-Heck, there's nothing else you could call it-but... Well, you were screaming in your sleep. I couldn't make out any words but I guess it's just in my nature to wonder. Healing is more than curing illness or fixing broken bones after all. There's mental and emotional pain that needs to be treated too..."

Shaking her head she sat back again, having leaned forward as she spoke.

"Or it was just a bad dream and I'm being a bit pushy along with being nosy. In which case you can feel free to call me an idiot or something and tell me to keep my nose out of other people's business. It wouldn't be the first time I pushed too far and asked for more than I should."

"Have you ever gone to Inokashira Park and seen Takashima on the move?"

Her left hand had been balled into a tight fist, blood slowly trickled from the small cracks from her fingers, despite this, she picked up head, showing both her green eye and blue eye rather than her usual covering of the green one with her bangs, and gave a kind smile.

"I'm sorry if this seems strange, but I can not, nor will not, answer you question until you answer this one...and if I may..."

She walked over to Sora and placed her right hand on Sora's shoulder, placing her thumb against the crook of Sora's neck and bent over so the two women were now able to stare into each other's eyes, "Please tell me honestly."

Though she found Sakura's current positioning strange it did seem along the lines of a truth detection method. She might have smiled, most teachings of Healing included learning to completely control your own body's reactions to the degree one could lie with no sign at all. But Sakura's need canceled any thoughts of informing her of this detail. She wasn't a big fan of lying anyway, especially when simply twisting words can change the meaning so much, yet she had no need to even do that normally.

Locking her eyes onto Sakura's, they were much more an honesty detector than blood pressure or heart beat anyway, Sora spoke her reply.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I hope that's not going to be a problem." The last was given a hint of questioning, asking acceptance of her lacking knowledge.

"Hmm..." Whether or not what Sakura could feel through her fingers, be it energy or pulse, she could tell by Sora's eyes that what she said had been the truth. She removed her hand and stood up straight, grabbing her left arm with her right and looking off towards who knows what and let her facade fade.

"What I was reacting to was a mixture of memories...I guess to explain, I should start at where I can?"

Her eyes remained fixated on the nothingness as she began her story.

"I normally don't like to talk about my human past but it can not be helped...When I had become three years of age, I found myself lost in the world, with little to no idea of the customs or how to live here. I wandered for what felt like forever, but was actually only about three weeks. Tired, hungry and sore, I came upon a beautiful garden outside of a small home I believe two cities from Minamino-San's house. It was there that my strength ran out and I collapsed under willow tree..."

She laughed briefly at the parallel between then and the past week, what was it with her and collapsing under strangers' trees at night?

"The next morning I awoke in a rather large bed and at the side of it was a sleeping middle-aged man. As soon as I tried to get out of the bed to leave, he woke up and did what I thought was the strangest thing...he gave me a kind smile and a hug. Then he just walked out of the room...and after a while I could hear crackling and could smell food, which was more than enough to get me into the same room as him. He ended up taking me in, or adopting me...though there were never any official documents...he never even claimed me as a tax-cut."

Sakura's blank face had shifted to show some true emotion, a real, warm smile.

"I loved him to death, my "Uncle Jimmy", he had enrolled me in school and soon I was living as a normal girl...I can still remember freaking out every night he came home late...thinking "This is it, this is the day some bad guy got him...", but he'd show up soon enough with a smile on his face and telling me all about the case he'd work on the day...providing it wasn't something too upsetting for a young child..."

Again she laughed, this time at the idea of her as a young child.

"Everything went on normally and happily, I even made myself a best friend...But, of course, my retarded bad luck couldn't let things remain like that, oh no...that wouldn't do. In his line of work, Uncle Jimmy ended up pissing off many people of the darker side of the underworld...so they finally decided to get back at him. When I was about eleven, my best friend, Shira, and I had been walking back from school...the last thing I can remember of that day is seeing a man smiling at us as he stepped in front of us. When we awoke, we were in a dungeon of sorts...and...it was there that we were beaten until we accepted out "training"

She spit out the last word as her left fist clenched tighter, causing her to wince slightly.

"I hope you don't feel offended by this...but I'd rather not go into much detail about the rest of this..." Her smile had faded from warm to sad as she glanced apologetically to Sora.

"We were forced to work in an underground...brothel I guess you would call it...As time went on, they brought in more and more girls, younger each time...Shira and I had become like mothers to them..." Sakura briefly paused to bite her lip and blink a few times at the thought of her as a mother.

"I had agreed to take on all the punishments and responsibilities of all the other girls, Shira included...it was painful, but I would be fine so long as they were. What I didn't know...was that Shira had contracted AIDS from a...client, and what I thought was going to be just a normal, annoying cold from our living arrangements, had killed her. Rather than being able to have her sent back and buried, and before I could even give her a proper goodbye, her body was taken and dumped in an alley-way...I still don't know what happened to it...but that was it for me. After having to sit through a punishment because one of their best girls was gone, I took what I could and ran...leaving the girls behind..."

Finally her emotions caught up with her and Sakura collapsed into a sobbing pile on the floor.

The brunette was on the floor only moments later, sitting beside the sobbing girl with her arms around her. Just the wording was more than enough to express the pain and there were no words to respond to such a story. She just hugged her tight, trying to pass along some long overdue comfort.

"None of it is your fault you know." Her tone was both honest and gentle caring. "You couldn't have done better than what you did, and even that was more than most would in your place."

Through sobs Sakura tried to express her worries, "Than...k...you...what...about...Sca...Scarlett an...d...th..e...other...girls?" She continued to cry, it had been so long since she had actually let herself cry instead of being the strong one and carrying on without a whimper that even her mind remained silent and let her continue. There was nothing to hear but Sakura's sobs until there was a knock at the door and an authoritative voice could be heard, booming through it.

"Excuse me, this is Officer Taguchi, as for your safety, we are ordering that every resident evacuate the apartment complex...please open the door so either I or another officer can come in and make sure that every person inside your apartment is properly evacuated."

Sakura was half crying, half laughing by now. "Talk about shitty timing..."

* * *

Phew, long chapter! I had originally planned to stop it after Sakura's nightmare...but it felt too short then. Do you think I should have kept it like that?

I would love to hear some reactions to Sakura's past (well at least as much as has been told so far) and hear if anybody guessed as much!

Again, many enormous thanks to Sora-San who is really co-author(s?) with me!

Also, as for my strange endings I wonder if any readers have figured out the two authors this is my "homage" to.

And of course, I would like to know if anyone has gotten the joke about all the chapter titles...though it really hasn't been discussed(sp?) too much yet. But, if anybody can guess why this is a joke, it would be great!

Always open to hear your thoughts and thanks for reading!


	8. Oh Death

"No kidding," Sora agreed. Reluctantly she stood and offered a hand to Sakura.

"Middle door is the bathroom if you wanna dry your eyes. I can distract him for a little while."

Sakura nodded and silently walked into the bathroom where she grabbed a tissue, dried her eyes, took a few deep breaths, tussled the black parts of her hair, then the blond and walked back out with a big smile on, as if she didn't even know the word cry.

"So, shall we get Tanya and head out? Oh, Officer...Taguchi was it? Would you mind telling us what is going on, or is that classified?"

Sora had barely opened the door when Sakura came back out of the bathroom and quickly took over the conversation. It was a bit surprising but she made the effort not to show her surprise.

Officer Taguchi seemed a little shocked, usually when he used his "Police Man Voice" no one asked him to explain himself, "Uh..yeah, there have been black outs and we need to investigate...and it's much easier to do so when we have vacant apartments..."

'Hmp, he seems a lot meeker than before..' Sakura giggled a little as she walked over to where the shoes were kept and grabbed her's, Sora's and Tanya's shoes...or what she assumed was each person's shoes by size and appearance.

Leaving the distraction up to her, Sora slipped back deeper into the apartment to collect the youngest female. On the way past the kitchen wall, just out of sight from Sakura and the cop, she paused and traced a finger across the wall as if drawing before stopping at he first door. One knock and the music turned off, then the door was opened.

"What's wrong?" the teen asked in a much more casual tone.

"Nothing important, the police need to check the building for something but they want everyone to evacuate."

"Should I bring anything with? Did they say when we could come back?"

The second question seemed to be tacked on as an after thought and Sora didn't even acknowledge it. "Your phone," she suggested. "And maybe your homework if you want. It's always better to be prepared."

Tanya nodded before poking her head back into her room for a moment. When she re-emerged she was tucking something into the right-side pocket of her school skirt. Brown eyes watched her and as the bedroom door closed another question came. "You made sure to clean up any messes I hope?"

The teen nodded as they walked back to the hall door and that was good enough for the older brunette. They reached the door moments later and the officer seemed to be done talking. Sora couldn't resist trying to pry information from him anyway. "I don't see how blackouts could be subject to investigation. Storms take out power lines sometimes and even breakers will short out. Why do we need to leave our home for something that happens with relative frequency?"

Again, Officer Taguchi was shocked.

'These women just aren't your average citizens...tch I bet they expect to ask me because they know all their rights or something...'

"I'm sorry Ma'am, but this is just protocol, since there is no "natural" reason for these black outs, we have to check it out, just to make sure. If this is not enough information for you, I can have you speak with the Chief of the Investigation team and I'm sure he'll explain for you." Since the initial shock had worn off mid-sentence, he was back to his authoritative tone. He held the door open and offered to assist all three females out.

Sakura huffed and handed Sora and Tanya their shoes, having had the time to already have put hers on she walked out the doorway first, all the while eying the police officer.

'Hmm he seems to be somewhat honest...I guess he just doesn't want to worry the public..'

Still, she made sure to stand in a position that was somewhat awkward, but placed her in between the officer and Sora and Tanya when they left the door.

Both brunettes were in their shoes moments after Sakura passed them over, each wearing shoes that could be slipped on and off easily, and they followed the other girl out of the apartment. As they left Sora started to pull shut the door and lock it, only to remember that was counter-productive to the current situation.

Stepping away from the door she touched Sakura's shoulder lightly to lead her away. Tanya was at Sora's other side as they both headed towards the stairs to the ground floor. There was also an elevator there and as they walked she considered the merits of using it instead.

"Man...those stairs were killer..." Sakura panted as the three finally reached the outside to see a swarm of police cars and reporters' vans.

"Huh, so I guess Officer Taguchi was really dumbing it down for us?" They continued walking until they had just about gotten to the correct side of the yellow "Do Not Cross" tape before a familiar voice called out to them.

"Yo! Sora, Tanya, Sakura, wait up!"

The last one called was the first to turn around and face the black haired man with the impish smile approaching them. Immediately her face softened, though she didn't know him at all, Sakura got the same feeling towards him as she once did to the "sibling" she had a very, very long time ago.

"Hello Yuusuke-San...what are you doing here? Do you also live in this apartment complex?"

"Pfft, no..."

He pointed to the gun in it's holster and pulled out his badge, "You're not the obviously observant kind are ya?" The same teasing smirk reached his lips as he finally got in front of the three of them.

"Observant enough to kick your ass in cards." Sakura mumbled while trying to match his smirk.

Off in the crowd of cars, a new, more expensive sounding, car could be heard screeching into place. The man who stepped out was instantly swarmed by the vicious breed that is known as news reporter, but he pushed through them and continued walking until he was safely with the rest..well almost the rest, of his division lay in wait for him. "Urameshi, where the hell are you?" He boomed, causing two near-by detectives to jump in fear.

"Sounds like you're in trouble," Sora commented as her friend's name was bellowed. Her expression turned into a playful tease. "How many times do we have to warn you not to play tricks on your boss?"

A touch at her arm had the brunette look to her daughter. "Keita-Chan is over there," Tanya commented and pointed back towards the building but just off to the side. "She wasn't feeling well in school today, so can I see if she's any better?"

"Of course," Sora replied with a nod. "Just stay out of the cops' way."

The teen offered no answer but there was no question she would do just that. Sora kept looking that direction even after she vanished into the crowd but turned back to the male soon after. "Well at least you will answer my questions. I suppose the evacuation has something to do with that?"

As she finished asking, the brunette waved an arm behind her at the apartment building. It could have been coincidence if not for the officer's message upstairs and the pending investigation. Nearly all the lights in the building were out, except for those that spelled out the character illuminated brighter and brighter in the fading light. In fact, as the sunlight vanished it became clear that the entire block had lost power. Except for those few apartments that fell along the strokes of the kanji.

It was only one word, but no more was needed to cause a mild panic in bystanders.

Death.

Yuusuke's usual grin turned grimed, "Yeah...someone passing by earlier thought that it looked like something...we had heard of several complaints of black-outs...normally something like this would just seem like a stupid prank but..."

He seemed to toss an idea about his head as he looked between where the Chief was and the two remaining women, "Sora...you actually might be able to help...I'm pretty sure you may know about this stuff, follow me...Sakura, you stay close with us to...just to be safe."

"Huh? Oh yeah..sure.." Something about that voice bothered Sakura, she couldn't really place it, but she would not be able to concentrate really until she solved this. Because of this, she didn't even notice the lights or anything around them as they walk, causing her to nearly collide into a van with the police emblem on it if it weren't for another detective by it grabbing her in time to stop her.

"Ah..OH! Thank you very much!"

"Stay here for a second, I'm going to make sure that this is okay with the Chief...my ass is enough trouble as is, so I don't want to even risk not asking him." A few moments after he went out of view, shouts and arguing and apologizing could be heard, from what Sakura could hear it sounded like the voice from before and Yuusuke. Most of it was too loud for her to really hear, her ears were a little sensitive still, she could only catch the last bit the voice said.

"Fine! But I am to be there and supervise, the last thing we need is for a civilian to drop because of one of our idiot detectives...go get the gloves..."

Yuusuke came running back to the van, completely bypassing the two waiting for him, ducking in and coming back out with very thick, hawk trainer gloves and handing them to Sora. "Here, put these on, I'll get it out...you're not allowed to look through until the Chief comes over though...frickin' dumb ass rules...I swear that man acts just like that hag sometimes..."

Sora, for the most part, had been silent this whole time now. When given the gloves she had frowned, the thickness made it more difficult to function, but she put them on without a bad word spoken out loud. That such a precaution was taken had her worrying that they might have run across something dangerous and she prepared herself for whatever it might be.

He continued rambling as he disappeared back into the van an pulled out a big, rather decorative bag with the words "Sin with the most sinful" on it over the image of a woman sprawled out in lingerie with a satisfied smile on her face.

'Hah..that looks just embarrassing enough to be...ahaha...noo...it couldn't be...there's no way..ahah...shit'

"We found this in the woods, it was semi-buried, but that could just be due to weather...what we could see of the contents...which is the reasoning for the gloves, lead us to believe that this little "Prank"," He motioned to the apartment complex, "could actually be something more serious...whether it be a cult, terrorist or something someone was forced to do, we have yet to determine."

When Yuusuke pulled out the bag though it was a shock. Something so seemingly innocent had never even crossed her mind, but now she was just curious to open it and see what Yuusuke thought strange enough to consult her on. Waiting on someone to give her permission was irritating but she remained where she stood and still gave off an air of calm until the chief arrived and began to rag on Yuusuke.

'Shit' Sakura looked down at the ground and scratched at her heads in hopes that maybe some clear thought would come to her head.

"Urameshi, did you put the gloves on her yet?" The voice could finally be traced back to a man in about his early fifties, he was a little on the tall side, his hair was graying, but was all still there, his eyes looked to be a mixture of blue and gray, with age he had gained some weight, so he didn't look as fit as his posture said he once was, and his forehead was creased with an uneven mixture of worry and laugh lines.

He looked to see the bag on the ground in front of a pretty brunette with the thick gloves on, the one he had approved, and next to his idiotic, but admittedly his favorite and best, detective, was a rather young woman, short, busty, athletic build, and though her head was down and she scratching it, he could see that she had an old style hair cut, it looked like it was from the 80's, even stranger was that her hair was dual-colored, with the majority of her hair being blond and on the bottom layer black.

He huffed at the idea, 'Why are so many young girls dying their hair now a days...it's really a shame..' but none the less he kept staring at her, he couldn't help it...she wasn't supposed to be there.

"Uramashiiii...I'm sorry but I can't remember...did I give you clearance for one woman, or for a woman and a little girl?"

That was when the brunette shifted to draw attention her way before speaking. "Sir, am I allowed to look now before you pummel Yuusuke-kun for some unknown but surely deserved reason?"

Yuusuke looked over at Sora, "Thanks for the vote of confidence!" he ducked when the Chief tried to wrap his arm around his neck. "Ah! I'm sorry Chief Powers! But you see...ur..."

Chief Powers turned to Sora and bowed slightly, "Thank you for helping us, and yes you may open the bag, but please be careful. Also under no circumstance are you to touch any part of your body while going through this bag, and I think it goes with out saying that you are not to put anything in your mouth. We have a medical staff here should you need it...really, do please careful..."

Sakura was pulled out of her head when she heard herself called a little girl...again, "HEY! I am not a freaking little girl! Jeez, I'm not that freaking short pe-"

She stopped mid-sentence and stared. 'What did Yuusuke-San say the Chief's last name was...?' Her mind was distracted from the bag on the ground at Sora's feet, the once she had started to open, as she continued to stare.

The brunette nodded though she wasn't too worried. She didn't even bother to ask why she was to be so cautious before sitting down on the ground and picking up the bag. Before opening it she paused for a moment and took a breath then exhaled deeply. The simple act summoned a thin layer of air around her arms, just in case.

'There's no fucking way...it just isn't possible, he's dead and buried at the Ishamori graveyard...wait...she's going into the bag? Those gloves aren't enough!'

"Sora-San stop now!" Before she had the chance to explain, she had pulled Sora's hands out of the bag, with a tattered, worn, brown book in it.

"Please drop that book now..." She glanced down at the book, shaking off the memories that attempted to flood back to her, and stared at the white petal sticking out of it.

"If you want someone to go through that bag safely, those gloves are not going to be enough to completely protect someone from the poison of Angel's Trumpet."

Somehow that set Yuusuke off in his protective mode to be sure she was fine and it took some careful convincing to remind him she was probably the safest one there. Well, second safest as Sakura seemed to dig into the bag with no concern for herself at all, though she had no immediate reaction either.

Yuusuke scanned over Sora, checking her for any signs similar to the other officer who had already been affected, when he felt she was safe he turned to Sakura, "So should we use a pair of pliers or something? Though I'm not sure how long it will take to get those here I mean...Hey what are you doing!"

Sakura lifted the bag and turned it over, "Everyone jump back..."

With the warning to move away Sora stole the chance to partially solidify a dome of air around Sakura and the dangerous plants, using just a small twist of her wrist.

All that could be seen was a bunch of white, bell looking flowers, some in bunches, others separate, and some were just disjointed petals. Her hands worked quickly and nimbly and she pushed the flowers about until she had eventually pulled out two dirty magnum guns that, even through the dirt and aging, looked highly personalized and had strange etchings on it, they were oddly shaped as well, all in all not average magnums.

Upon further pulling and pushing about, she had uncovered piles upon piles of money, some clothes, more books like the one Sora had held, one of which made her frown slightly, some bundled herbs, a vile of red liquid, a bag of ashes, some strange plants that looked slightly familiar to Yuusuke, a decorative dagger, an old necklace with what looked like Greek writing on it and various pieces of papers with names on them. There was a moment where it looked like pictures had fallen out, but after a second, they were gone.

"You idiot! After a week of being knocked out you just touch something like that without a second thought! Wait...how did you know what that plant is called...and how did you know it was in there?" Very rarely did Yuusuke ever feel like an actual idiot, but if what he was guessing was true, he felt like one for ever trusting someone like that around his "family".

"I think the better question is how did you come in possession of my bag?" Sakura looked up at Yuusuke with a sad smile.

"I can't beli-"

It was then that Chief Powers decided to speak up, "Detective Urameshi...stand down...she has nothing to do with this lighting incident...these are items she's had for a while..." His voice held so much power, and so much sadness in it, that Yuusuke, for once, was speechless.

Sora still held the book in her other hand and she kept that in her grip even as Sakura and the chief made their revelations. Yuusuke might have been speechless but she found words to ask what he couldn't.

"So you know one another... How does that work?"

"Well, unless he knew me in a previous life, I don't know him...I thought I did, but he just proved me wrong..." She shrugged and looked over at the book Sora had in her hand, "Don't tell me...you guys looked at my books?"

"And what makes you so sure that you don't know me young lady?"

"Excuse me, but what right do you have to call me young lady?"

Yuusuke could not decide whether or not to step in. On one hand, he had to ensure the safety of the Chief, but on the other hand...he did not want to suffer that wrath of interrupting him. He looked over to Sora in hopes that she had an idea.

"I know you don't know me because you knew that all of this stuff was mine... If that makes any sense at all..."

"Oh please, you were always bad at hiding things...remember when you use to try and hide my keys to keep me from going to work if you thought the case was too dangerous?"

He watched her step back and smirked, he'd won this, "It was not very hard to notice that under the back deck the dirt had shifted slightly...so one night, I admit, I had dug at that spot one night and discovered most of this. Yes it was wrong of me, but I couldn't help it...besides, it's not very hard to remember that locket of yours, you use to wear it all the time."

"I...uh...but...but...But I saw your gravestone and everything!"

"Did it ever occur to you that there could be more than one person with the same last name as me?"

Sakura stood, dumbfounded, happy, sad, confused...she really wasn't sure what she was feeling. Chief Powers turned to Yuusuke and began to speak again, "Urameshi, you said she was out of it for this past week? You do know that in order to pull something like this off, she would need to have been working on it during this past week right?"

Once again, Yuusuke stayed silent as he thought over Sakura's "alibi" and sighed, "So what the hell is with all of this stuff anyways...and I still want to know how you were able to touch this stuff and be fine..."

A look at Sora had Sakura back into reality with a smile on her face, "It's as Uncle Jimmy said, these are all things of mine that I've either had or that I've earned over the years." She looked back at Sora before continuing, "As for the Angel's Trumpet not affecting me, it's because I've worked with it for so long that I've sort of built up an immunity towards it." In her mind, she buried the emotions she had felt, figuring it was not the time nor the place for her reunion, sure it felt cold...but more pressing matters were at hand.

"Useful," Sora commented. She was curious about the almost constant eye contact Sakura kept with her now but there was no safe way to talk, not here or now anyway. She let her thoughts drift for a moment and her glance came back to the building and she cursed under her breath. Before anyone could notice or question though she switched topics.

"Well, if you two are so close I suppose you'd rather stay with someone you know over a stranger. Am I right Sakura?"

"Actually..." It was Jimmy Powers who had answered with a sad smile, "When Sakura went missing, I moved out of that house and into a studio...I never sold the house, but it's well past code and is most likely condemned...I haven't been there in the past five years. A studio is much too small, besides, I don't think a young woman would want to have to share a space with an old man."

"Well-"

"She can always come back to Kurama...er...I mean Shuuichi's place. Or I'm sure Keiko wouldn't mind another woman in the house."

"I-"

"So how do you know her anyways? And how does "Kurama, er Shuuichi" know her...I hope none of you have pulled her into anything unsavory..."

"You see-"

"Ha! Not at all, it's actually a weird story...about a-"

"Will both of you please shut the fuck up!" With both men stunned quiet Sakura was finally able to speak.

"What I've been trying to say is that Uncle Jimmy you know I would love to live with you again, but as you said, a studio is very small. Sora-San, I don't want to bother you again, especially since you have your daughter to take care of."

She briefly ignored Yuusuke's suggestion, she had no idea why, but the mention of Shuuichi made her kind of sad, "Now in case you all forgot, I have a pile of money...a lot of money...sitting at my feet, so I am sure I can find something...but there is something a little more pressing, mister Detective and Mr. Chief..." Sakura pointed at the side of the building.

"If you must make sure I am situated, I'll see if there are any apartments available here..."

'If only to check out what it is that is going on here...'

"Oh, and Uncle Jimmy...this has been a bit of a weird reunion, once this is all over we have to have a proper one." Her face lit up with another smile before she, once again pointed to the building, sending the two men running off back to business before looking down at her stuff and shoveling all but the locket and the one book Sora held, into the bag.

"Well that was a bit awkward..." She mumbled as she secured the locket in it's rightful place around her neck with a longing sigh.

"I hope you don't think I was trying to get rid of you," the brunette finally said after the men had left. She watched Sakura shove everything back into her bag, she'd let down the barrier when they were the only people still near the flowers, finally speaking since suggesting the other female return to where she knew.

"I offered to let you stay with me and it still stands. Tanya's taken as much care of herself as I have ever since she was about 11 and there's an extra bedroom in our place anyway. If it would make you feel better you can pay half the rent or something but I'm not about to let you go get yourself in more trouble before you're even completely over this last event."

Sakura smiled and shook her head, "Oh no, please, I didn't think that's what you were doing at all. If it were me, I probably would have suggested the same thing."

She laughed a little when reminded of what had happened, really just fifteen minutes ago, "A lot has happened this past hour, hasn't it...I'm sure you're just as curious as I am about what actually is going on here...and if it's still safe for humans to stay in this complex..."

Her mind was made up to ignore the issue of where to stay for now, she would cross that bridge when they got there, but the issue of the lights distracted her enough that she didn't catch her own strange wording.

A curious expression touched her face but she noticed it before Sakura seemed to and wiped it away. Calling people humans was something she did herself but the only other times she heard it was from non-humans. Putting that thought aside for now, she moved back to Sakura's comment about the building.

"I'm sure everything is fine. It's probably just some dumb kids messing with an electrical box or an electrician crossed wires or fuses. Maybe it's not even the building and it happened at the power company."

"Yeah..." She continued staring at the side of the building, not really satisfied with Sora's guess, but her mind was already made up to poke around later and see if she could see anything the cops would most likely miss.

Grateful Sakura seemed to accept that answer, Sora turned her attention to everything but the building. Scanning the crowd that seemed to have multiplied in the last half hour, her brown eyes eventually caught sight of her daughter and friend. The girls had moved farther from the building when the police expanded their space but both girls were still looking towards the build like everyone else.

Then she was shocked to see Yuusuke and Jimmy return, Jimmy with a disappointed look and Yuusuke with a look that she knew well.

"So...what's up?" Her voice was a little more upbeat than she felt it should be, though she really didn't mind if those around her thought her to be a little clueless...

"It seems just as if it was either a freak accident or some punk playing around...either way there's no evidence." Jimmy sulked off towards the sharks with microphones, ever reluctant to report anything that would make the police look incompetent, and he knew that's how this story was going to be presented.

After Jimmy had returned and left again, her male friend caught the brunette's attention to speak softly to her. He had noticed the unusual energy hanging around the building and wanted to know if she knew anything about it before any investigation was done.

'That expression doesn't suit him...makes him too serious and robs him of his personality.'

Sakura thought with a frown before feigning ignorance to his and Sora's conversation and wandering off with Yuusuke's "stolen" impish grin.

"Oh, Death, оh Death, oh Death,

Won't you spare me over til another year

But what is this, that I cant see

with ice cold hands taking hold of me

When God is gone and the Devil takes hold,

who will have mercy on your soul

Oh, Death, оh Death, oh Death,

No wealth, no ruin, no silver, no gold

Nothing satisfies me but your soul

Oh, Death,

Well I am Death, none can excel,

I'll open the door to heaven or hell.

Oh, Death, оh Death,

my name is Death and the end ïs here..."

Glancing after her, Sora laughed softly at the song choice before offering the young detective an answer.

"No Yuusuke, this isn't me. I haven't even been around this last week and you know Tanya doesn't mess in spellwork." She cut him off before he could even ask about the younger girl, then switched gears to keep him from worrying too much.

"It does remind me of something I've seen before and I'm pretty sure there shouldn't be any danger now. Just see if you please can't hurry the investigation along though. Just in case whoever," she was tempted to say 'whatever' but didn't, "did this comes back. We can't be sure they won't up the ante next time, if there is a next time."

Yuusuke nodded and continued speaking to her in a low voice, "This investigation is just about over, once the old man finishes talking...we should be cleared out in about half and hour...but.."

He quickly scanned the crowed to make sure none other could hear him and lowered his voice even more, out of sheer paranoia, "I think the guys and I should come back in three hours and help you check things out more thoroughly. Until then, you should increase protection of your apartment...maybe send Tanya and Sakura out for a while?"

Once his mind was made up about doing something to ensure the safety of his "family", it was impossible to argue with him. Knowing there was nothing Sora could say to convince him otherwise, he ran off to help wrap things up.

* * *

Phew, this chapter was much longer than I originally thought it was!

I am so sorry for the wait everyone, things have been a little hectic!

Once again, this is not solely written by me, Sora-San is co-author and a huuuge help!

I'm so happy every time I see a review or a "favorite story" or "favorite author", and I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has done so, so far, and I'm always ready for more reviews. I especially love hearing people's guesses and such, so please feel free to just put a few guesses, theories or what ever you'd like out there.

Anyways, next chapter may be a little short, but it is going to be a good one, I promise, so please look forward to it (though it most likely won't be out 'till next week).


	9. Playing God

It was several hours later when Sakura found herself staring up at the ceiling of a dark room, glancing about, every now and then making some noise to make it sound like she was sleeping. Even meditating to lower her energies and make her body fall into a false slumber, a bit over cautious yes, but after noticing several things about Sora from when she first met her, she felt it was safer to do so in order to pull off her facade.

'Man...all day I've been having to act and feel like I did when I was first a young girl...'

She waited for about two more hours before she heard some hush speaking coming from the direction the front door was. From what she could make out, it sounded like Yuusuke, Kuwabara and Shuuichi.

'I guess I was right.'

As she continued to listen, she heard whispers about someone's grandma and how she would have probably known them if, whoever was speaking was cut off as the front door was closed and locked. About fifteen minutes went by before Sakura climbed out of her bed and walk to the bedroom door; she sent some energy out to make sure that no one was around before running over to her bag, changing and slipping out her window and onto the small balcony by it.

From there she managed to jump and slide down until silently landing on the ground. Before she continued any further, she checked herself, feeling for her locket, the two, now cleaned, long cool things hidden between her breasts, the very cold, scratchy dagger at her back, and quickly flexed her energy to make sure everything was in working order.

'It's been years since I've done this...'

The nostalgic thought brought a smile to her face as she dashed around the corner of the building. When she got back to where she started, Sakura paused to take in the night. With an exaggerated breath she took in the scent of the night. Despite the lights from the apartment complex polluting the sky, Sakura could still easily make out the stars and the moon, which, to her pleasure, was a bright waning crescent. Her senses and mind finally cleared, the woman clad in tight jeans, tall boots, a ripped and shortened wife beater, an old tattered sheer shawl of a jacket and an obscene amount of belts finally felt peaceful enough to come up with a plan. She would start with check out the inside of the building, work her way up to the top, then see if she could pick up some trail.

* * *

Meanwhile, Yuusuke had led the team all the way into the basement of the building to start looking. His years training to be a proper detective had honed his leadership skills and he took charge now with an effortless ease. His jump in logic had been to start at the bottom and work their way up for any signs or clues, or perhaps even their culprit. By moving up it would corner the suspect on the roof, unless they could fly or teleport.

The sole female stayed silent as they moved. Any attempt she made at speaking had been missed or ignored in her apartment and once they re-emerged into the hallway everyone had gone quiet. Now that they'd arrived where they intended to be however, she spoke up again.

"What exactly are you hoping we can find, Yuusuke?"

The four of them stood in a close approximation of a circle and she met his brown eyes across the empty space. Kuwabara was on Yuusuke's left and Kurama on hers, they shared a glance too as Sora continued.

"I told you before that whoever did this is sure to be long gone."

* * *

Sakura didn't even have to step inside the building before she picked up something. Right on the other side of the door she was approaching, there was a mixture of demonic and spiritual energies, all of it strong enough to pose quite a threat.

She growled a little and placed her hand on the dagger against her back, "Προστατέψτε" Then she began her slow and quiet approach to the door.

* * *

Inside, the team had split in half to cover the ground more quickly but were now regrouped together before heading upstairs.

The back staircase was more of an emergency escape, enclosed within itself and letting off to a door that led to the alley. These steps weren't as nice or well kept as the ones at the front of the building, beside the elevator, but few occupants of the building seemed to even know they existed anyway.

This was where the four met, stopping to share no news before heading up. At least that was the plan, but before they could start up to the next floor there was a subtle interruption.

Almost instantaneously they all looked towards the door to the alley. Just beyond it, and getting closer, was an energy the likes of which none of them had felt before. Most unusual of all was how it toyed at the senses, so familiar and yet not. It seemed to be demon one moment and human another, then jump to completely unknown right after that, almost as if a blending of conflicting power types.

No one moved in the stairwell as the energy reached the door, then everyone except Yuusuke moved out of sight. It was a precautionary measure; allowing the other three to provide backup. How the detective was left in the open wasn't even a question, he simply had kept his place.

Now it just remained to be seen what opened the door.

* * *

The woman outside paused, 'That's strange...they left one out in the open...'

If there was anything she's learned in her years of living, it was that one should never be too hopeful and that caution is the best method of going about most things. So this sudden change was more than enough reason for her to stop dead in her tracks and raise her defenses in case she was attacked from all sides. She stood there waiting, constantly checking all possible shadows someone, or something, could come from.

* * *

Enough was enough for Yuusuke, despite his years of having to deal with lengthy investigations, his patience was still little to none.

"Son of a..."

He didn't want to wait any longer, strange energy be damned, he was sick of just waiting there.

"Will ya hurry up an' get in here ya bastard!"

Apparently he forgot he was in an apartment complex late at night; Yuusuke shouted and threw open the doors, pointing his index finger at the dead center of the night and firing off into darkness.

"Don't you know that patience is a virtue?"

A hand came up with a knee coming up, trapping Yuusuke's arm, while two fingers jabbed under it, rendering his arm limp and useless. The knee dropped Yuusuke's arm and attempted to connect with his stomach but Yuusuke managed to block it with his good arm, forcing the voice's owner to fall backwards until they were on their hands.

This didn't stop them though, their legs wrapped around his neck and flipped him over until the person, who Yuusuke quickly discovered was female, had him pinned under her.

As soon as they hit the ground, two sets of two fingers jabbed Yuusuke in various areas of his neck and torso. The woman flipped back, off and over Yuusuke.

"I sensed them before, so tell me...where are your friends?" Sakura looked about, never glancing down to see who it was she was talking to and who she just immobilized.

And no sooner were the words out of her mouth than Sakura herself was immobilized, the air itself stiffening around her so that not even her head could move. When she first felt the air around her stiffen, she struggled, pulled, pushed and lashed out her energy until she realized she couldn't break free.

Two figures, both male, stepped forward from behind her. One carried a whip, seemingly too long to be of any use, and the other held a sword made of pure energy, it's crackling light providing small illumination to the otherwise dark space. Both men stood in stances showing they could use the weapons they held but the dim area made their features all but invisible to the human eye.

"It is in your best interest to surrender now," the one on the left said. He had yet to raise the whip but the tone in his voice was often enough to properly scare. "Tell us your intentions and perhaps we'll let you go, but don't even think about lying."

He snapped his wrist and though nothing seemed to move in the night, suddenly a nearby trash can had split in half. The cut was clean down the middle and the two pieces fell apart from each other with a small clatter that echoed against the walls. "I assure you, bodies cut even more easily."

The harsh sound of metal hitting the ground caused Sakura to flinch involuntarily.

.

"Tch...you should be a little more considerate to those who live here and are trying to sleep."

Even though she was talking a big game, in truth Sakura was beginning to feel cornered, which was never a good thing. Her eyes glowed slightly as the moonlight streaming in through the windows intensified.

"Είμαι ο τοξότης του φεγγαριού, καλώ το βασίλειο της νύχτας και των Θεών, να μου δανείσετε σου δύναμη και θα γίνω σου σκάφος, Θεά του δάσους στο σπίτι μου, καλώ εσένα!"

As she spoke, the light in the small hallway became brighter and brighter until it was engulfed in white. Sakura's skin glowed lightly as the image of a second woman appeared entangled with her own; a few of her cuts re-opened, but Sakura bit back the pain. Her eyes had gone white, hair an array of colors and waves, and the same light poured from her. When it was all over she was once again able to move.

There was no warning. One moment she was holding the air around Sakura stiff and the next a brick wall of energy slammed into her, followed by the backlash of her own energy rebounding against her will. Sora slumped against the wall and kept conscious long enough to see the boys were still fine before she collapsed to the ground.

Exhausted, the woman pulled one of her guns out and pointed it towards the two men, when she pulled the trigger, writing appeared on her body.

The result though, was anti-climatic.

Instead of what she intended, a fish appeared by the feet of the men.

"Fuck..." Her energy absolutely spent, Sakura fell back unconscious next to the still immobilized Yuusuke.

For their part, the two red heads simply watched in surprise as Sakura effortlessly broke free, but were less than amazed at her failed shot. The one holding the sword actually started to laugh before his attention was brought back to the, now unconscious, female next to their friend. His sword vanished as he moved over to check if she was even still alive.

When he got close enough, the unconscious girl turned over so he could see her smiling face, with just the tiniest of drool coming out of the corner of her mouth (which was now dripping on Yuusuke).

"Mhmhmhmh stop it Ku-Chan you know how ticklish I am...not the knees...No!"

In her unconscious bliss she playfully kicked and pushed out, effectively knocking the unprepared Kuwabara over, before turning on her side and drooling more on Yuusuke's shirt.

"Aw gross! Kuwabara get off your ass and get her off me, Keiko will kill me if she sees this, this is a new shirt!"

As Yuusuke spoke Kuwabara pushed himself off and tried to move the girl...woman, off Yuusuke.

"Hey...we know her...Sora, isn't this?"

He turned around to see an unconscious Sora, dropping Sakura back on Yuusuke, causing him to get a little wind knocked out, he ran over to check Sora, to see that she was just knocked out.

"I guess we should get these two back to Sora's apartment?" Kuwabara motioned to the lightly bleeding, but still sleeping Sakura as he picked up Sora and started walking away.

Kurama had moved beside Yuusuke and Sakura when Kuwabara stepped away and had already picked the other female up and started for the doorway before Kuwabara even suggested it. As he neared, he kept his gaze intentionally away from the other unconscious female. This was not the first time she'd been knocked out, nor even the first time the cause was clashing energy, so he knew she would be fine in the morning without any help. There was nothing they could do to help her anyway, other than to be sure she didn't stay outside all night.

"Hey! I'm still here you bastard!"

His thoughts were interrupted by Yuusuke's shout and he decided to comment before a fight could begin between the males.

"Don't worry Yuusuke, we'll come back for you. Even you have to agree that seeing these two to safety supersedes the same for you."

To be fair it was a mostly safe part of town so the likelihood of something happening to the detective was minimal at best.

* * *

So sorry for the wait everyone!


	10. Asleep

It wasn't until four hours had passed that either of the girls had shown any signs of coming to.

Sakura groaned and grabbed at her head, either she ran head-first into a door or she drank enough to drown an elephant. Still not entirely awake, she could just barely hear male voices arguing by her.

"Please Yuusuke," Kurama spoke at a low volume to not disturb either female. "We've been going over this since you arrived two hours ago; it was nothing against you personally." But when the other two seemed to ignore him entirely, the red head simply sighed again. Trying to prevent them from fighting was a near impossibility so he'd settled for making sure they didn't wreck the place. So far the only close call was when Yuusuke had found them and came in ready to pummel the both of them for ditching him.

"Oh come on get over it, you're fine."

"You left me out there for two hours!"

The rest of the conversation was drowned out by the throbbing. Sakura finally spoke up with a more than groggy voice, "What time is it?"

"Shut up Ura-oh hey, I think it's about eight..."

"What! Eight! Shit I'm late for the night show!" In her panic, Sakura had momentarily forgotten that her head was screaming and that the sun was already shining brightly. She pushed herself off the couch she had been sleeping on and made a run for the door, fretting about a routine, her "stupid outfit", needing some salt water and then cursing about something or other.

Sakura pulled at the door relentlessly; apparently her panic had also caused her to forget how doors and locks work. "Ah come on! This isn't funny...I'll die...URG!" Her foot connected with it in a loud bang, causing the already injured door to shake and rattle.

The red head had walked off to the kitchen for some relative peace shortly before Sakura woke, and had only looked back to check when the arguing suddenly stopped. Sakura was nearly at the door to the hall before he moved, thankful he'd taken the time to relock it after Yuusuke turned up. The delay was enough to keep the girl inside the apartment until he could reach her.

"Where do you think you're headed?" he questioned. Her chatter to herself reached his ears but he dismissed its current importance. "You were just unconscious for the second time we know of this week so we're not about to let you wander off to get yourself hurt again. And regardless of the fact you were unconscious we also have some important questions regarding how you managed it this time."

Rather than have time to feel the pain of kicking a steel door with her bare foot, Sakura jumped from the shock of a male voice behind her. "Hey! How'd you get down here? Ah..."

'Son of a...'

"Hello Minamino-San..." She smiled and bowed in a pathetic attempt to diffuse the situation. "Wait...what do you mean?" Whether it be from her passing out before she had a chance to see them, or the heat of their battle, Sakura honestly still didn't realize that she had fought with them.

"You were unconscious in the alley, apparently sneaking out of the back stairwell fire exit," he informed her. They had agreed before he would handle most of the questioning because the situation required a delicate touch. "Yuusuke had asked Kuwabara-kun and myself to come back and check on Sora-Chan after what happened and we found you out there. "What do you remember?"

'Well I guess it's better for them to think I was running away then to have to tell them about a group of fighters...but...I can't help but feel like he's angry with me...what the hell did I do?'

Despite how kind he had been to her, Sakura began to feel oddly indignant at the fact that he seemed upset, anyone else getting upset she'd be fine with...but something about him doing it set her off.

"Well I am sorry to inform you, but I really don't see why it is important to know where I went or anything other than why I was asleep in the alley way." Control be damned, she went through enough last night all to try and ensure that people were safe, why should she bother hiding how much it annoyed her that HE was annoyed. "As I've said before, I'm a bit klutzy and tend to just drop wherever and sleep."

"I find it hard to believe you just happened to 'drop wherever and sleep' in the back alley of an apartment building when you were sleeping in an upstairs room in the same building a few hours before." He was keeping his tone level but she seemed to be picking up on his mood anyway. Perhaps she was another Empath, which would only serve to complicate events all the more.

Sakura bristled, 'How...dare...wait...'

"Oh? And what makes you so sure you know that, perhaps I woke up and went out for a walk. Can you honestly say you know me enough to say that I wouldn't do something like that?" She took a step closer to him and looked him in his eyes, "Unless of course you've been the one lying and you've been following me around."

Her hands grabbed at the door and unlocked it, "I'm going out, I'll come back when you've calmed down." Before any of the previously silent bystanders could react, the door slammed and all that could be heard from the woman was the noise she made on the other side of it.

The red head looked around the room after Sakura slammed the door. There was a tone in his green eyes that silently dared anyone to say anything further about the situation. His gaze touched the still sleeping female on the other couch and he sighed.

"Uhh...So..." Yuusuke had never really seen anybody, especially not a female, react like that to Kurama. The fact that she was able to tell how upset he actually was too...well it just made her more interesting…. and dangerous.

"You two should head home. I'm sure the girls are worried that you haven't returned by now." He paused, considering, then answered the unspoken question. "There's no one waiting on me, so I can stay to be sure everything's fine."

Fearing what would happen if they disagreed or said no to Kurama at this time, both men shook their heads, told him to call for them once something happened and left, each going off in opposite directions towards their homes.

* * *

Through sheer luck, Sakura had only to walk for about twenty minutes before she came across a small but beautiful park. Her mood lightened a little when she found an old, large Willow tree which overlooked a clean pond. With a sigh she walked over and seated herself in the roots of the Willow tree, using the trunk as a spot to rest her head.

'I can't believe the nerve of that guy...why the hell does that upset me so much...' She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

'I know I'm going to have to head back eventually...I'll probably have to apologize...you know what...No! It's his damn fault...somehow...ug.' With all the excitement and adrenaline, she'd forgotten to take care of her headache and sore body, and it had all come back at her with a vengeance.

"Just great..."

* * *

Back at the apartment, Kurama had perched on the edge of the couch beside Sora and was gently stroking her hair as she lay still. Green eyes watched the steady rise and fall of her chest as his thoughts ran back through everything that had happened that night, looking for some way he could have helped things not reach this point. The room was calm in the gentle sunlight. It was a scene that would have been perfectly normal several years prior in their relationship.

The red head looked up just in time to see the front door swing open. A man was standing in the opening, a dark shape against the hall lighting, even to inhuman sight. He spoke before entering the room, his head turned down to view the damage to the door. "There was trouble here?"

"No more than usual," Kurama replied. The other man gave a nod as he entered, removing his overcoat and placing it on the back of a chair. "You're late."

"The flight was unseasonably rough," the newcomer answered. The Japanese was a bit outdated. He used words and phrases that had dropped out of common use many years ago and the words seemed to not fit in his mouth right. It was the mark of someone who did not speak the language normally: one who had had to learn it at a later stage in their life.

His features became visible as he stepped into the light. Blue eyes and dark hair that was messed as if he'd slept during the plane ride he mentioned. His black suit was professional but slightly rumpled, like he'd spent more than a day in it, and if the red head stood he would come a few inches shorter. Most notably, there was no demonic or otherwise otherworldly energy about him; naming him a human. "I came as soon as I received your message."

Blue eyes found the female on the couch and the next questions came quickly. "What happened? Is she hurt?"

Green eyes looked up to meet blue and their owner shook his head. "Unconscious from the backlash of her own energy. No one expected it and there's nothing I can do to protect her when it does happen." One can't just jump between a person and their own power.

Kurama stood to free up space for the other male who sat after a silent exchange.

"She still cares for you." The comment was unexpected and came shortly after the dark haired male sat. "More deeply perhaps than she'll ever admit even to herself." He turned his head to meet the red head's face and studied it. "But you know that. Does she know you know? No, I'm sure not or you two would be together again. Why haven't you told her?"

"She doesn't believe she deserves me back." His tone was saddened but resigned. This was far from a new topic. "She's done her best to run and leave me to a life without feelings interfering in our friendship these last years and I've respected that."

"But it hurts you to do so."

"As it hurts her."

There was silence for a short while before the blue eyed male spoke again. "You could always claim her heart again. Surely she'd take you back with a small amount of convincing."

"No. Even with your permission I couldn't take her from you. I won't be the cause of her marriage falling apart."

A piercing blue gaze caught emerald this time. "You of all people should know better than to trust the validity of such a union."

"I still couldn't do it." A note of humor touched the features beneath the red hair. "You're the angel in her life after so many demons; each a failed relationship that left her more hurt."

"I am less her guardian angel and more a consolation prize."

"No," Kurama argued. "You are the one she would have had if she'd never left. The one she was probably meant to end up with. You could call me a distraction. A distraction from the life she would have led had she remained in America."

"You honestly believe she would be remotely similar to the person she is now?"

"Not exactly. Her power may not have developed as it has and she would not have the same knowledge she does or how but she was casting impromptu spells long before we met so she would not be too different."

"You are in the best position perhaps to make that assumption." It was an acceptance of sorts as well as a conclusion to the conversation. The dark haired male turned back to the resting female and lightly touched her face. "Has she been out long?"

"A few hours now."

"A few hours? Feels like I've slept at least a whole day." The brunette brought herself to a sitting position then put a hand to her head and closed her eyes as if in pain. "Ugh... I hate the sun when it's so bright."

The males exchanged a glance with amusement on their faces but it was the blue eyed man who spoke. "How do you feel?"

"I'm fine. A bit tired," she blinked as she spoke the words as if that would remove the exhaustion from her body. "But that's normal for me when I sleep too long." She glanced around and caught the time on the clock above the TV. "Where's everyone else? Did Tanya get to school do you know?"

"I wouldn't think so as it's only Sunday," the red head answered her. "I sent the others home when Sakura woke up so Yukina and Keiko didn't worry too long about them."

Sora nodded her understanding, frowning when the combination of that motion and the sunlight sent a jolt through her head. It wasn't quite pain but it was annoying enough. Forcing herself to her feet, she started for the next room as she spoke again. "I need something to drink, I'll be fine."

A couple minutes later she walked out of the kitchen with a glass of water in her right hand. Taking a sip, she returned to the couch, took a seat and looked between the males still in her living room before her gaze settled on a point just to the side of the red head. "Whatever happened last night anyway? After I got knocked out I'm kinda clueless and I'd love to be filled in."

So he told her what she missed, what they knew and what they guessed. When he got to the end the brunette wasn't sure what to make of it. "Wait, so you let her go off all alone? Did anyone go after her? How do we know she'll be alright?"

Kurama looked up to meet her gaze. She hadn't noticed she stood but she didn't sit down again. "We were somewhat distracted and she seemed to want the time alone. Although I didn't expect she would be gone this long so we would do well to go looking."

"Agreed." Sora looked to the other male now. "Will you help us search or do you have business to get back to, Shichi-kun?"

"Nothing that cannot wait an hour more," he replied casually. "The time difference works in my favor currently so I can assist."

"Awesome." She leaned over to kiss his cheek before he rose to his feet. "Let's go."

There were a few things to do before they actually left; a quick wash-up for the brunette and a bit of cleaning up after the boys last night, but they were together at the front door not even 5 minutes later. They only paused so Sora could trace a symbol on the inside of the door. The metal slowly flowed out back into shape, leaving the door in original condition. Just as the spell was intended to.

"I don't believe I'll ever become accustomed to spell work that has no ties to devil worship..."

The comment came from the dark haired male and Sora laughed softly before she turned her key in the lock. "Yes, well things are quite different over here. Personal energy is better to use than another's power if you have the strength for it."

On that comment, which neither male deemed to respond to, the trio set off towards the staircase. They would go their separate ways once on the street in hopes of finding Sakura before any more trouble could befall her.

* * *

There was a little wind that day, as there usually is during Spring, but not enough to make Sakura's spot uncomfortable. So, why was it that she still felt so uneasy? Sure, she was sitting against an old Willow Tree, but she'd done that ever since she could remember, and it always worked to calm and soothe her, so why wasn't it this time?

With a grunt Sakura opened her eyes and looked up at the slightly cloudy sky, "Oh...it's going to rain again today..." Nothing unusual, Spring did tend to be somewhat rainy. She closed her eyes again briefly and hoped for a nice big storm.

'How long have I been here...I think I must have fallen asleep or something...' Her eyes scanned the scenery, a few children chasing each other, two teenagers kissing, some parents and a dog. Scenes like these always brought a smile to her face, but something was off. A quick shiver and she immediately knew what it was, someone was watching her.

Sakura stood up slowly and stretched out with a content sigh, 'Don't let them know you've sensed them...' After a few seconds of "soaking up the sun" she turned around and bent over to pick up nothing, using her peripheral vision to find her watcher.

Who she saw was not at all who she expected. For one, rather than finding a gang member, she saw a rather young looking business woman, neat black hair, very pristine grey suite, and strangely red heels. Still, she was positive that was who was watching her; why, she really couldn't even begin to guess, but it was clear by the sudden tensing of the woman's muscles that she knew that she'd been found out.

'Shoot, I'm still not as good as I use to be!' Sakura laughed silently before letting her body take over her cover. She bent over to reach her feet to try and begin to take off her shoes, only to discover that in her haste, she'd forgotten them.

'No wonder I felt a little weird.' From her feet, she went up, removing her pants and shirt until she stood up straight in her bra and panties. In all honesty, she wasn't sure what she was doing, but she decided it would be better to not even think about it.

Her feet moved her over to the edge of the pond, 'Oh...nice...' With one deep breath she jumped into the pond, coming up a little bit later, and let herself float on her back with a smile. The feel of the cool water finally relaxed her; she kicked a little, only to move herself to a sunnier spot on the water's surface. Once settled she began to tap her foot, "Are you gonna take me home tonight….um…hmm"

Nearby, another figure was now watching the girl in the pond. His cell phone was brought out as blue eyes studied the female in the water and he spoke in carefully worded Japanese. "I believe I've found her," he spoke into the device. "She's at the park nearest your home." He listened for a few moments. "Alright. I'll wait for you here."

The call ended and he returned the phone to his pant pocket as he continued to watch so Sakura didn't vanish again.

When the rest of the words wouldn't come to mind, Sakura dipped herself once more under the water's surface, hoping the cold would help jog her memory. "You make the rockin' world go round...uh...hm...nothing.."

After a few more minutes of trying, she gave up.

'I don't want to get out just yet...' Once again she found herself floating on the surface of the pond, in the same sunny spot, taping her foot and singing a song she was absolutely sure of all the words; completely oblivious to the world around her and her now two watchers.

"When the Devil is too busy

And Death's a bit too much

They call on me by name you see,

For my special touch.

To the Gentlemen I'm Miss Fortune

To the Ladies I'm Sir Prize

But call me by any name

Any way it's all the same

I'm the fly in your soup

I'm the pebble in your shoe

I'm the pea beneath your bed

I'm a bump on every head

I'm the peel on which you slip

I'm a pin in every hip

I'm the thorn in your side

Makes you wriggle and writhe

And it's so easy when you're evil

This is the life, you see

The Devil tips his hat to me

I do it all because I'm evil

And I do it all for free

Your tears are all the pay I'll ever need

While there's children to make sad

While there's candy to be had

while there's pockets left to pick

While there's grannies left to trip down the stairs

I'll be there, I'll be waiting 'round the corner

It's a game. I'm glad I'm in it

'Cause there's one born every minute

And it's so easy when you're evil

This is the life, you see

The Devil tips his hat to me

I do it all because I'm evil

And I do it all for free

Your tears are all the pay I'll ever need

I pledge my allegiance, to all things dark

And I promise on my damned soul

To do as I am told, Lord Beelzebub

Has never seen a soldier quite like me

Not only does his job, but does it happily.

I'm the fear that keeps you awake

I'm the shadows on the wall

I'm the monsters they become

I'm the nightmare in your skull

I'm a dagger in your back

An extra turn upon the rack

I'm the quivering of your heart

A stabbing pain, a sudden start.

And it's so easy when you're evil

This is the life, you see

The Devil tips his hat to me

I do it all because I'm evil

And I do it all for free

Your tears are all the pay I'll ever need

And I do it all for free

Your tears are all the pay I'll ever need

And I do it all for free

Your tears are all the pay I'll ever need

It gets so lonely being evil

What I'd do to see a smile

Even for a little while

And no one loves you when you're evil

I'm lying through my teeth!

Your tears are all the company I need"

A short while later both the red head and brunette had joined the male in the park near the pond. It was, of course, Sakura, and they were all in time to catch the second half of her song. They shared a confused expression as they listened but slowly recognition dawned on the female's features. She didn't get to comment however, as the man on her right, the blue eyed male, spoke first. "Why is she telling the world she's evil? Is it supposed to confuse us or is this another custom I don't understand?"

"Neither," Sora answered. "She's just reciting a song, probably one that randomly popped into her mind." When the confusion didn't leave his face she continued quickly. "I knew some people who liked the song years back, friends I don't know anymore. I just never expected to hear it here or now." She added a laugh to the last comment.

Sakura was broken out of her "trance" by a familiar voice laughing; she looked up to see Sora, Shuuichi, and an unknown man staring at her.

"Oh hi." Her mood from the morning had made a complete one-eighty making it possible for her to give the three a bright smile before swimming over to the same edge she had jumped in from and walking to the other side of the tree she had sat on, to face them.

Before continuing to speak, she glanced to the left to see that about ten feet from her, still stood the pristine business woman. She opened her mouth and shut it quickly when the woman looked down at her watch and ran off.

'Hm...Must have just been my imagination I guess...'

"So...I guess you guys figured out I don't know where I am?" The need to lighten the mood had come across her, and she had tried to with her little comment and a small laugh, but it didn't seem to do much to shake that strange feeling in the air. She was about to comment on how she should get dressed, but a strange sound coming from Shuuichi's pant pocket distracted her.

"What in the world..." Without thinking, she placed her ear against the pocket and listened.

"How strange...I've never heard a beeper ring like a phone before..." She spoke with her head still against the pocket. In truth, she was tempted to see what it was, or at least poke at the pocket, but she figured she could wait to see.

On the other end of the phone, a woman tapped her foot furiously, every now and then turning around to yell "Shut Up" or "Stop Crying", as she listened and waited for an actual voice, rather than ringing or that obnoxious automated voice telling her to leave a message.

"Uh... Excuse me," the red head said in a tone that was so muddled with confusion and disbelief that it sounded neutral. As Sakura moved back, albeit not by much, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a simple slide screen cell phone. A sigh escaped his lips when he looked at the caller and he raised it to his ear as he reluctantly hit the accept button.

Sora began to pull Sakura far enough away to allow the formerly married couple to attempt a private conversation but the female's shrill notes followed after them. They had just stopped a few feet away when there was a strange sound, almost soft enough to pretend it wasn't there, and the brunette dug into one of her own pockets for the phone that was vibrating against it. She had it flipped open as it left her pocket and after scanning the message brown eyes turned to meet blue.

Kurama didn't say anything in greeting. He'd learned a long time ago that she would assume he was listening when he answered and any attempt to speak was wasted breath on his part until she wanted to hear him. And if it was something she didn't want to hear the result would be him telling a dead line.

"Fucking finally. Now listen, I'm going on a business trip, and I need you to watch your daughter, Kai is going to be visiting his mother and my mother isn't allowed overnight visitors. I'll drop her off later tonight, don't make me wait!"

During the call muffled sniffles could be heard in the background coupled with a fairly frequent "Go away, I don't like that game...I wanna take a nap." But before anything discernible could be heard, the woman had made her edict and had hung up the phone, growling as she walked over to her room to finish packing.

"What are your plans for Friday?" Sora asked of her husband. "You said things calmed down recently, right?" A nod answered the question that wasn't a question and she continued on without missing a beat. "There's another event coming up and I've gone alone often recently so rumors might be starting but if Gene and Tom need your help I'll understand."

He regarded her with an unreadable expression before answering. His response coming, as hers had, in English. [I will attend if circumstances permit but we're dealing with the mother of all on the job problems and my presence is of the greatest assistance.]

[Those two never were the smartest pair, were they?] The reply came with a good natured laugh. Though she hadn't hung around the guys much, Sora had befriended her husband's associates over drinks at company 'parties' and she had no problem letting the three of them hang out together even when she wasn't around.

Sakura looked back and forth between Shichi and Sora, just barely managing to get the gist of what they were saying, but they were using some words she'd never learned nor over-heard. Eventually she gave up and decided on staring at the, what she guessed was, weird portable phones. 'I wonder how long they've had these...man I've been underground for too long...' She huffed and blew her bangs out of her eyes, still oblivious to the fact that she was standing in the middle of a park filled with children and angry mothers, half naked.

Kurama came over to join the trio, fighting his expression to appear even remotely calm. It worked, somewhat. As he approached his features drifted out of anger to mere annoyance; a downright saintly feat after the creature he'd just dealt with on the phone.

"It seems as though I'll be getting my daughter back tonight," he informed them in a tone that was almost his normal. "So if we're all set here I should get back to my place. Her mother doesn't like to be kept waiting." From anyone else those words would have been accompanied by rolling of the eyes but he had enough self-restraint to not do so.

"Alright," Sora agreed right away. The slowly building tension about the red head wouldn't go away so easy until after his ex was gone, but keeping the level lower wasn't too difficult. "If you want company, don't forget you can always call."

Green eyes caught hers and he sent a knowing look, one that seemed to almost read your mind. That brought a light laughter to her voice as she continued. "I do know how to behave even around that monster."

"Ah...bye" When she got the chance to actually look at the red head, Sakura was reminded of her anger towards him, and, in all honesty, she was going to try and say something, but she figured she could let it wait until later before she forced an apology out of him.

After he left, Sakura turned to Sora, once again slightly agitated, "I'm going to take another quick dip in the water..." She turned and stomped back into the water, took one lap, and got out to begin putting her clothes back on, she had finally noticed the unhappy mother's when she heard the word skank tossed in her direction.

"I should be going as well," the other male added. He'd moved forward only half a step, yet commanded their attention even without an overpowering energy. The next sentence was directed at the brunette alone. "I came to be sure you were alright as soon as I heard, but there are more pressing matters now."

She nodded and he leaned in to kiss her once, soft and quick on the lips. When he pulled back Sora was the one to speak. "If you run into any more problems than you already have make sure you let me know. You know how to reach me."

* * *

A bit later Sakura was back in "her room" lying on her bed, in a dry change of clothes, seething at the ceiling.

"Jerk..." She tossed and turned until she fell into a light-nap, for all of five minutes, before huffing and sulking all the way until she got back to the living room, only to curl up on one of the couches, hugging her knees.

Unnoticed by Sakura, Sora and Tanya were sitting at the table across from the kitchen. They were sipping tea and talking softly when the bedroom door opened, drawing their attention to the third female. When she slumped onto a couch without comment, the elder brunette stood and walked over, teacup cradled in her hands.

Stopping beside Sakura on the couch, Sora dropped to her knees in a careful movement that didn't spill a drop. It had a natural feel to it though she'd had to practice to make the move seem so effortless. She spoke in the same kind and friendly tone that was her normal outside of combat situations. "Is something wrong?"

"Ah!" Her face turned a little pinker, "Sorry, I don't know why, but I just found myself in a sour mood." Sakura looked over to Sora's previous spot, "Oh, I'm sorry, did I interrupt something? OH! I forgot to introduce myself to that other man that you were all with...hmmm I feel bad...my English isn't that good, but I think it's bad I never got to say hi..."

"That's alright, he had to get back anyway." Her tone drifted between talking to Sakura and almost talking to herself and back, but the words were directed to the other female the entire time. "He's got an important job that needs him around as much as possible and he only stopped by to check on me. He should have left again when we came looking for you but he offered to help out and an extra set of eyes doesn't hurt."

"Oh, well I'm sorry to have bothered you and him...but who is he?" She looked at Sora strangely when she asked the question...again.

There was a moment of surprise on the brunette's features, then one of embarrassment.

'Maybe I shouldn't be asking this...hmm'

"I guess I didn't answer that part of your question, did I?" It was rhetorical and she didn't offer any time for Sakura to answer before moving on.

"That would be Shinnichi," Sora answered finally. "My husband."

"Oh, then I am sorry I never really...got...to...hmmmmmmmmm" Sakura sat there on the couch for a moment, staring at the cup in Sora's hand, scanning her fingers for a ring while silently trying to process this new information.

"So...yeah..." She realized it was a pathetic attempt to say something, but she really couldn't think of much to say, too many thoughts were running wild in her head.

Brown eyes watched Sakura as she looked down for a minute before Sora realized what she was looking for. With a smile on her lips, she moved her right hand off the cup to show the ring on the finger beside the pinky. It was a silver ring formed in the shape of two hands holding a heart with a crown atop it. The heart was depressed with a small, bright green gemstone set in it.

"It's called a Claddagh. The heart pointed in towards me means I'm taken, that my heart belongs to another already." The smile was still on her features as she explained. "Its part of my Irish heritage and since our marriage is far from traditional I decided I'd rather use this symbol. I do have a beautiful wedding ring, for the ceremony you know, but it scares me so that I'll accidentally break it hitting into something or other, so I don't wear it often."

Sakura's eyes lit up as she looked at the Claddagh, "I recognize that, but it's different now, the ring is based off an old Celtic tradition...Oh but Irish, I guess that with all the trips to America explain why you and him were so quickly slipping into English?"

'I hope I'm not seen as an eavesdropper for this...'

"I don't know English too well anymore...so it was interesting to see two people just slip into it like that."

The soft blush of embarrassment returned to the brunette's face. "Yeah... That would be mostly my fault. Normally we meet up in America or else I get called or he comes to get me to fly there so English is more habit for us. Shuuichi-san knows English well too so we use it even when he's around, especially because Shichi-kun finds Japanese unusual. He speaks it fine but he's not used to it like we are..."

She seemed to notice then that she was rambling and backtracked a tiny bit. "Because we travel between here and America so often I've sort made a habit out of speaking in whatever language is around me at the time. There are always billboards and such around so there's the clue, but this time I had a message on my phone in English and I didn't even think. Some dumb charity event gala thing for work and I figured I'd ask while we were standing together because attending without a date leaves a bad impression..."

Again she stopped, turning an apologetic look on Sakura. "I'm sorry; I must be boring you with all this talk of random stuff. It really wasn't my intention."

"No, no please it's actually fascinating; I would really love to travel..." A familiar tingling tickled at Sakura's nose, causing her to trail off her sentence, but, much to her dismay, it was a false alarm.

'That is going to bother me all freaking day now...'

Sora turned a smile to Sakura once again, mild amusement on her face even as a sneeze almost slipped from the other. At the next question however, the brunette paused to sip from her cup before offering a response.

"Ara? Did you say charity event? That's interesting, what for?"

"You know, I actually don't remember which one this is. There's a couple different events throughout the year and I always seem to mix them up." As she spoke her mind was drifting in a slightly different direction and suddenly an idea hit her. "You know... If you wanted to see the States you could come with? Shichi-kun can't come so that leaves an opening in my invitation."

"I...I uh..." For once in her life, Sakura honestly had no idea what to say, not even her mind, the same one that usually prattles on with some smart ass remark, could muster any words. She sat there in silence for a few moments, just staring at the brunette in front of her, until the words slowly formed themselves on her lips.

"I wouldn't know how to thank you for the invitation, I can pay for my own ticket...but could I get a...oh, I think I remember they were called...passports, in time? And I don't know what to wear..." Almost automatically her eyes drifted over to the door to "her room" where her bag lay; sure, she had some passable clothing, but she didn't really have anything...nice.

"Oh don't worry about paying. The tickets are a gift of sorts so they didn't cost me anything and you'll be my guest." Whether she was oblivious to Sakura's worries or simply ignoring them at present, Sora continued on as if she'd received a full-hearted acceptance. "Plus it gives us the excuse for a shopping trip and Tanya secretly loves them, even if I don't."

The thought of Tanya adoring shopping trips brought her lips reprieve from the teeth that had them in their grasps just long enough to smile a briefly speak, "A shopping trip would be fun...are you sure none of this is a problem, not even how little English I can remember?" Teeth continued their duty, causing a little blood to spill down her chin while in her head she counted and took note of the very large sum she had stolen from the brothel and estimated the amounts she would need for necessities, what she could use for fun, and how long until she needed to find something to make more; which she really didn't think was for a while.

"It'll be fine," the brunette assured her. "Stick by one of us and we can translate for you, if that's your preference, or we can find ways for you to learn. You are a bit old, but normal memorization techniques aren't impossible. Plus there are newer, and less orthodox, methods of gaining new languages...

The thought of learning more English plagued her mind a little, to the point where it took a few more minutes to respond with a decision about a dress. True, she was older, but she had always had a knack for picking up languages rather quickly, once she had committed herself to learning it, she normally would be fluent within a week and half, but that was before...'Maybe I should just have them act as translators for now and hope that I can at least keep a simple conversation on my own...and when we get back perhaps then I should ask for one or two lessons...hmm maybe I could do so from Uncle Jimmy, I promised I'd visit and I really didn't get to express my feelings last time because of the situation and-'

"I'd be happy to cover the cost of getting you some new clothes too." Jumping topics after seemingly rambling to herself, Sora brought the conversation back to the other topic. "You're under my hospitality at least until I'm sure you're well enough to be on your own again and I wouldn't want it passed along that I'm a bad hostess." She offered an innocent smile that might lead one to believe she was as clueless as the end of that statement made her sound.

"Hopefully you'll show me around your place too, before you go, so I can be sure nothing there will bring back any of your... conditions."

"Oh, please do not worry; you've been an absolutely gracious host! Very kind...but please, I have plenty of money to spend, and I am very skillful with making outfits, so please allow me to either pay for the dresses or make them."

"Are you really...?"

The question came out sounding even more absent minded than she intended, hoping for more interest and pleasant surprise, but the brunette recovered quickly enough. "Well if you're so insistent..." She rose and turned to check on her daughter who was still preoccupied with the magazines scattered on the kitchen table. A smile graced her lips just before she raised the teacup for another sip, although the liquid had already cooled, all under the pretense of thinking of a solution.

"How about we take you shopping this time, since the event is so soon, and you can either worry about paying next time or cover your own expense now. Whichever you prefer, since you're so determined..."

The woman in thought shook her head when it hit her how long she had gone without answering the question posed to her, "Sorry, and if I cannot make them for you both at least let me pay, if not as repayment than as a favor for friends? As for myself, if I cannot find something I like, I will either modify a dress that I see workable or just make my own."

"That sounds fair enough," the brunette nodded. Gently she touched Sakura's arm in mock of pulling her along. "Come on now, come look for some designs you might want to wear. We've got some fashion magazines plus Tanya's pretty awesome at figuring this stuff out. She's way better than I could ever be."

* * *

Hello again everyone!

Well...hopefully some of you still exist who care about this update!

I want to apologize about this taking so long! My computer had died and it was quite some time before everything got back to normal. I had lost all of what had been done so far, thankfully Sora is the smarter of the two of us and had saved everything, so y'all should expect a bunch of chapters!

I made this chapter long both as an apology and because it makes it so we get closer to some more action and such. I can't tell you what happens or when, but I will promise you that soon enough you'll miss these calm, friendly chapters ^.~ (Isn't that foreboding...ooohh scary!)


	11. Fences

The week passed with little incident and soon Friday night had arrived. The three women had arrived in town Thursday and stayed the night at a nearby hotel so they could walk.

The front entrance was guarded by a man in a standard black suit and Sora offered her invitation to him before he had even moved to stop them. He took it and skimmed over the words before offering it back to her. "A pleasure to see you as always, Mrs. Langston. It's a pity your boss hasn't overcome her circumstances yet, but it would be a shame to make you stay away."

"You say as much every time, Eustice." Sora had warned Sakura ahead of time, back at the hotel, that she used a pseudonym at these events though she hadn't shared why or what it was. Tanya had attended several of these events so she gave just as little reaction to the unusual name. "You flatter me greatly," she said as she moved her hand so the ring was visible, "but don't forget I'm already married."

"Of course, of course. And what a fine husband you have too." Though there was no one behind them yet, he ushered them inside to provide cover for himself. "Go right on in; get out of this chilly air."

Both brunettes offered him a nod as he bowed their way in, even though the evening outside was rather warm yet. As they passed through the main doors, Sora spoke soft Japanese to Sakura, to fill her in. "He's a harmless old flirt, but if I don't remind them right away that I'm married then some of the younger guys here forget I'm off-limits." The smile on her face was a gentle one though as they entered the main room.

The charity gala was being held at a private studio, normally given to art showings but this weekend the gallery held only a handful of pieces, adorning the stark white walls at precise intervals. The staging was made to appear incidental, though the trained eye would notice it was intentional. The gentle melody of a classical piece drifted on the air beneath the low murmur of voices that filled the room.

No answer or words were offered to Sora or Tanya, even when it was to let the two know if the one in question understood or not. When they had entered, well really when they came within about fifty feet of the building, the woman gained a satisfied, knowing smile, and had spent most of the time drifting in and out, with her eyes closing randomly. Whether or not she was flirted with was not noticed by her either, though somewhere deep inside her she had two fears about that. Despite the trance-like state she had resided within, two of her usual fears plucked at her mind. The first being of what would happen if someone actually flirted with her, the other being the usual fear that plagues the female mind: She felt awkward and ugly in comparison to those who accompanied her.

The youngest of the trio looked far older than her age with her hair pulled back behind her head. She'd gotten hair extensions just for this event so her hair could be laced together in a simple, yet elegant fashion on the back of her head. She wore a deep blue velvet dress that reached only to her knees and had 'sleeves' that barely came off her shoulders. There was a soft lavender sash of fabric, a couple inches wide, belted around her waist, and every so often one of her hands would move to touch the material as if making sure it were still in place. The shoes were a matching shade of blue with low but thin heels and she'd worn nylons to match her skin color so they were invisible against her body.

Slightly behind her, Sora also wore her hair tied back and up but in a less graceful style than her daughter. Both wore a minimal amount of makeup as well, but there similarities ended on their attire. The brunette had chosen a sweeping satin gown in a pale green that teased the hints of green in her eyes into play. The material fell just short of the floor, hiding both her legs and shoes beneath its billowing folds. The cut of the fabric gave the illusion there was both less and more than there actually was depending on how she moved in it, but it didn't hamper her movements. That was an important factor in picking the dress.

Around her neck, Sora wore a single necklace. A golden chain holding a small charm just above the gentle curve of fabric that was the neckline. The same fabric climbed her shoulders to hold the gown in place, framing the lone gem above her chest. The charm itself was a clear bead of an unidentifiable material encasing a small soft yellow seed that had begun to sprout. The yellow-green root appeared to be nearly breaking out of the gem. Not the most beautiful piece perhaps, but dear to her heart.

There was more jewelry as well. Simple diamond earrings and a matching diamond ring, set with three smaller diamonds on either side of the main one, on the second to last finger of her left hand. The ring, at least, cast flashes of varying colors off the larger stone when it hit the light. The last detail of her appearance was the bag tied to her wrist. She'd bound the drawstrings to keep from losing the purse, not for fear of stolen money but because it was the only place to carry another item precious to her. The white fabric caught the faint glow of color from her dress and looked to be the same color except on close examination.

One thing Sakura never really experienced was elegance, so naturally she felt uncomfortable in her gown. Though, when one took the time to look at her, she did look quite nice. Unlike her companions though her dress had no sleeves, it was held up by the corset top part, a simple velvet in a deep shade of red, with black lining. From her waist the dress went continued until it touched the floor in a soft circle around her feet made of a simple silk, the same shade as the top half, decorated with long and winding black velvet roses that led up to a small back sash. On her feet she wore simple black heels. Though she favored the dress and its colors, she felt it would look better off her and on someone else. The woman shifted, the combination her natural blue eye and green eye made with the dress felt like it clashed, but she was able to push those fears back a bit by leaving her hair down and loose, straightened so her bangs covered them for the most part. She, too, wore little make-up, aside from a few previous markings on her body, and wore a very old locket tight against her neck.

Someone between being lost in a trance and her fears, she had taken a bit to realize they had stopped moving. After some consideration, she figured it would be wise to say something so she turned to her friends with a smile and pointed upwards, "Fantasy Impromptu, Chopin."

"You would notice something like that, wouldn't you?" The comment was spoken in an amused but slightly unfocused manner, as though her thoughts were not all behind saying it. Her brown eyes were focused towards an open doorway as a voice called out to her.

["Ah! Maria-Chan! I was hoping to see you here!"]

Sakura smiled at Sora, knowing that her mind was elsewhere, but she decided to leave it be and continue to enjoy the song while it still lasted. The peace was brief as her ears became assaulted by a horrid use of her language. When the offender was found, her eyes were the ones attacked, 'What's with this guy...is he made to try and attract any woman with the "blond prince" fetish..?'

The speaker was about 30 with blond hair that framed his perfect face; blue eyes and a bud shaped mouth with a facial structure that came off both as delicate and powerful. He wore a specialty tailor-made only suit that fit his shape perfectly but hung just loose enough to leave some freedom of imagination. He was the kind of man most girls dream of falling in love with, and just the sort of boy Sora hated most.

He stopped beside the three women, a drink in each hand, and looked them all over. ["You've made a new friend."] He spoke in weak Japanese, having only learned a small amount of the language. ["And a rather lovely one at that."]

He took Sakura's hand and gave it a kiss before she could object. He met her eyes with his gorgeous blue orbs as he spoke the next comment. ["Perhaps you would all like a private showing later..."]

"No thank you Marcus," Sora replied with a mild bite. His innuendo was blatant enough that even she could see right through it. She continued as she's begun, in English, in the faint hope it might get through to him. "And I have told you countless times before that it is improper in Japanese to use another's first name unless you are extremely close. Best friends are one example, or husband and wife..."

["And how is he tonight?"] The blond continued to butcher the foreign tongue, in spite of her wishes Sora had decided long ago. ["Left you alone for another party. Do I sense a failing marriage?"]

["Only in your dreams..."] the brunette shot back. ["And in any case, my personal life is none of your concern. Yours on the other hand..."] Brown eyes made a show of looking around the room. ["I see a blond across the room in your near future. She looks to be an avid fan of the human form so I'm sure she'd love to attend the 'private showing' you mentioned before."]

Marcus stared at her a moment before glancing the direction she had last looked. His blue eyes came back to meet brown, unmoving to his cause, and he spoke aloud in English so nearby groups could hear with little effort. "Always a pleasure to see you at these events, Maria, but you really should get your boss to attend on her invitation. She's missing out on so many grand celebrations."

He then turned from her, pausing to slip Sakura a small slip of paper, and moved towards one of the back corners, where a blond stood in a red dress to the floor with a slit up to her hip. Sora remained in her place, brown eyes trained on his receding back. The male never gave another glance their way, quickly catching the female's attention and drawing her into conversation.

It was only proper to smile, so the woman let her face betray herself in hopes of not giving her friend a bad image. Even when the "pretty boy" had the gall to grab her hand, uninvited, and kiss it. Still her face remained a smile, though every impulse told her to shove her heel right into the center of the man's pants, but she remained.

'Go figure...' Her thoughts were brief and her smile was forced back into place as he handed her a slip of paper before finally leaving the group.

"I seriously hate that guy..." Sora muttered, softly in Japanese.

Finally the man had turned and Sakura showed the distaste on her face, looking down at her hand she scoffed lightly and quickly rubbed her diseased hand on the back of his jacket.

"I'm sorry you have the misfortune of knowing someone like that..." As the woman spoke, a small amount of smoke, unnoticeable to most, filtered out through her clenched fist. A second or two past and she relaxed, opening her fist to reveal nothing in it.

[Hmm...do dance here ever?] The poor girl's attempt at English was a little shaky, but after dealing with something as "traumatic" as that, she didn't really care, besides, the point got across. "If they do, how about we all dance together...I'm sure that will keep some of the...I'll call them sharks...away?" In hopes of not letting others in on her plan, Sakura switched back to Japanese and spoke quickly.

Before her hands could find that of the two brunettes, something tugged at her, "Actually...umm..." The aforementioned hands began to fiddle with each other, "Not to look the gift horse in the mouth...but...the...boy said for another party. Do you do this often? And I think he said something about a boss in English?" It's often said that a fox's worst trait is their curiosity, and if anyone was guilty of that, it was Sakura.

Deciding to reply to the last comments, the brunette skipped over the rest. "Not too often, no, but we do attend a few events a year. Invitations are only given out to those who donate a certain amount to the right groups. My 'boss,' as that idiot called her, frequently gives money to the less fortunate. Most of her money in fact goes to a children's shelter here in the States."

Glancing around, Sora lead them towards a less open spot so they could see any troublesome people before they got close. "She never attends these things though, and passes off the invitations to me."

"Oh, how come your boss doesn't just attend them herself?" In her mind, the woman pictured seeing the happy faces of orphans as they got new clothes or blankets...and then she saw a giant mansion with a bunch of people laughing and dancing...it seemed off. "By the way, you still haven't said what you do. Perhaps I'll understand better what is going on if I know your job?" Sakura cast her eyes downwards, hoping she didn't sound rude or pushy.

"I suppose that might help..." Sora mused, though her tone didn't sound convinced.

"I am the primary editor and public face of a mildly popular, but quite reclusive author," Sora explained in Japanese for Sakura's benefit. "She has turned down every interview, photo-shoot and book signing to avoid the public. It's widely believed, thanks to an internet rumor, that she's got a terrible disease that keeps her inside. I can't say that's true or not, but she doesn't mind letting people believe it."

A young male, early 20s, dressed in a similar black suit to the doorman appeared beside the women and offered them a glass from the silver platter he carried. "Champagne for the lovely ladies?" he offered in a voice deeper than expected as he partially bowed to them. With a soft 'thanks,' Sora carefully took one of the long-stemmed glasses and took a sip. She made a point to turn and avoid looking as he flashed a smile for both of them and moved on to the next group of people.

Gesturing with the hand that held her glass, she pointed out a woman in a deep green gown across the room. "The lady there, in the green, is Kathy Marie. I don't recall her last name but that's what she has her clients call her. She's the secondary editor and publicist. She catches any mistakes I might miss as well as making sure everything is just perfect and getting the books sold to the right people; publishers and customers. She does an amazing job but don't mention it where she can hear you because it goes to her head."

As if mentioning her had drawn her attention over the sound in the room, the woman looked their way then smiled and nodded towards them in recognition before returning to the conversation around her. An elderly gentleman standing beside her turned to look but looked away again directly after. Sora had smiled and waved in return to the woman's gaze but sighed softly after she turned away. "I'm glad she didn't try to come over and start a conversation with us. She's a wonderful person but these events make both of us so tense and it's hard to find the words I want to use."

The brunette turned her attention to Sakura again and frowned as if at herself. "I'm sorry, I'm sure you don't care who anyone is or anything dull like that."

The woman shook her head and smiled, "Not at all, it's all very interesting to me. Whenever I could get my hands on a book I would read like crazy. I guess you could call me a detective geek...though I do love horror...and I will always love Candide by Voltaire." A light pink touched her cheeks when she realized she was prattling on.

"So what do you usually do at these things? I've never been to something as fancy as this...that I can remember, so I want to make sure that I don't commit a faux pas."

Across the room a man around the age of thirty watched the three girls with a satisfied smile. The group around him continued to chat, drink and laugh, every now and then checking him for any sign of movement.

"Well you really don't do much," Sora answered as she gazed around the room again. There were a few people staring at them, male and female, but she only paused a moment on each person to be polite. "It's mainly an occasion for those rich enough to not go bankrupt giving a large sum to some cause or other to get together and show off how much they give to charity." The Japanese was fluid and oddly cheery for a topic she felt so negative about. With open ears all around rumors would spread based on tone alone if the words couldn't be understood.

"What you do depends on what the situation is. Many of these events focus around a banquet, and some of those are merely for the dinner while others include a ballroom dance of sorts. I think this one is only focused on conversation though," the brunette considered and took another small sip. A careful eye could see there was nearly the same amount as the cup held when she accepted it. "Perhaps a small award ceremony, to thank extremely generous donors, but thankfully that means it should only last a couple hours."

The woman followed her friend's glances around the room with a soft giggle, "I see, well I guess they must all love to hear themselves talk, huh?" Her giggles become quickly stifled as a rather large shiver caused the drink in her, now shaky, hands to spill about a bit.

"Aha, I guess I should have chosen a warmer dress..." It was another sad attempt on her part to cover what she was feeling, but if it wasn't a believable act, Sakura really couldn't give two shits. All she cared about was finding the source of her discomfort and bringing the two brunettes somewhere that was considerably safer.

"So how long do these things usually last?" Sakura forced a yawn into the middle of her sentence, causing the end of the sentence to be said with a horridly high inflection.

Through the crowd a rather short, well dressed ginger slid about, nearing a group of three women. He shifted about until he was a few feet away from the two brunettes, a smile creeping onto his face as he began a leisurely stroll closer to the two, all the while calling the waiter nearby them. When the small man got, what he believed to be, close enough, his hands dropped down, the right a little higher than the left, and slowly let them approach the slightly curvier areas on the two until two iron grasps clamped themselves on his wrist. "Tch" The man looked up to try and either slinking away, if it were a man, or, if it were a woman, accuse the other party of lying, but when his eyes finally reached those of his captor, what he saw had stolen away any words or hope of getting out of this...much less unharmed.

"Just what exactly do you think you were trying to do?" Sakura's tone was quite high pitched and light despite the fact that she was spitting her sentence out, rather loudly (privacy be damned!), through her teeth and that her hands were constricting the perverts wrists to near bone crushing pressure.

"Well...explain yourself...better make it a good one."

When Sakura spoke, Sora gave a gasp that was a little too loud and spun away with a flourish that made it look like she'd moved farther than she really had. Attention was on them now from much of the room and if they were forced to put on a show then she could play the audience. It wouldn't be the first time either.

Sora pulled Tanya to her side with a touch on the younger's arm and looked to a waiter who was nearby. She waved him over and spoke in a voice that would carry to the nearest groups. She chose her words carefully though they would be mutilated in retelling even moving around the room. "Would you get security please? This man has caused a situation that would become a terrible incident for the press to hear, especially if my friend gets her way."

Brown eyes watched the waiter as he hurried off after a rushed bow. There had been a note of worry in his eyes; public opinion of these events ensures they would continue and those waiting on the guests would keep their job. As he faded into the growing crowd around them, Sora turned back to Sakura and reached out to touch her shoulder. "Please don't do anything foolish," she said in English, but it was mainly for show.

As the grip tightened on his arm, the man struggled to free himself before frantically turning to his, obviously foreign, captor, "Hey! Didn't you hear your friend! She told you to let go!"

Sakura tilted her head and looked between the two, feigning complete ignorance to all the English being spoken to her. Following the perverts gaze, she turned to her friend and spoke very quickly in her best known language, "My, my, what should I do...would you like to continue this show, or should I toss his ass flat outside?"

["Much as I would enjoy that,"] Sora said with the hint of a smile breaking through the mask, ["it's more acceptable to leave him until the security guards arrive. They can escort him out then."] A sigh that sounded more like a deep breath, and then she continued in Japanese. ["Although personally I would much prefer the chance to pound him into the pavement myself."]

In the background was the shuffle of body moving and many feet walking but it got gradually louder until from the crowd a pair of guards emerged. They wore simple uniforms in solid black to blend in but when you saw them there was no mistaking their purpose. Both men were tall with hard faces made even more so by the matching stern expressions and while the clothes didn't bulge, it was obvious as they moved how much muscle was under the fabric.

His hand was released as the guards approached him. "Le-listen...they're complete liars!" Flailing about, he pointed to the group of girls while attempting to back away from the men after him; unfortunately, there was a crowd solidified around him.

Once cornered, the man charged towards the women, "I'm telling you, these bitches are liars!"

The attack was unexpected but not entirely unforeseen. Sora and Tanya moved at the same time, dodging effortlessly to the right and as the would be attacker ran through the now empty air he tripped and fell only to land right at the feet of the security guards. Both men reached down, nearly in unison, and each caught an arm of the pervert to haul him to his feet.

"Throw him out on the street for attempting to harm these girls," spoke a voice that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. A wizened old man appeared from behind the security personnel moments later. The gray of what remained of his hair blended against the pale tones of the suit that only made him look more dignified.

Before he could protest, the man was lifted and taken away, presumably to be thrown out...or perhaps he awaited a worse fate.

When the man was out of view, the only safe woman of the group (for the entire time) turned to the old man with a bow and, laying on the accent, spoke "what little English she knows", "Sank you"

Before either Sora or Tanya could offer their own thanks, the old man spoke again. "I must apologize for my nephew's rudeness. I have tried to keep him from these events but there is only so far one may go before the boundary of rudeness ceases to exist. Even as a youth, however, he had a horrible wandering eye and his hands were even worse. And his father was just as bad. If he hadn't also gained a keen mind for business I would have disowned him when the scandals began years ago but one must have an heir, eh?"

The older brunette couldn't help a genuine smile. The things this stranger was telling them should have made the situation awkward, but it was a pure honesty that she could easily admire. A partial curtsy, just a slight bob of a bow, and Sora spoke. "Well we are ever so grateful that you had him removed from our presence. I would hate for my own daughter to be subjected to something so improper while she's still at such an innocent age."

Though the youngest was already beyond an age she would have been expected to be starting her own family when he was younger, the male nodded once. "If it should please you, I can restrict his access to the events I fund when you choose to attend. Just a word to security is needed, and your name of course."

"Langston, Maria," Sora answered the almost question, nearly forgetting the alias she was currently wearing. "But that is unnecessary, Mr..." he supplied her his name and she continued, "Walters. I do, however, thank you for your consideration and graciousness."

That seemed to effectively end the encounter, and the women were bid wishes to enjoy the remainder of their evening by the event's host. Within moments he'd vanished into the crowd again, along with the minor security detail that the brunette only noticed afterwards. That detail bothered her but it was nothing she could change. As she scanned the room for any other things she hadn't seen before, the glass came up to her lips in feign of simply taking a drink but this time she didn't even swallow any of the liquid. Perhaps the drink was to blame for her lack of perception.

The remainder if the night proceeded in an extremely uneventful manner, even as such events typically go. Shortly before events concluded a select few individuals were offered a complimentary piece of art from potential up and comings in thanks for their generosity. This small group gathered in a back room as the rest of the crowd filed out the main entrance.

Once outside, Sora started to lead her guests down the street as others were pausing to wait or getting into vehicles parked nearby. Tanya walked before the older pair as they spoke; the brunette answering a recent question now that they could hear.

"Those guys were the highest donators." Brown eyes focused mostly on the youngest of the trio but she took in their surroundings entirely so they wouldn't get lost. "Obviously they can't be given anything that costs money or donations will drop because the funds are being used wrongly. And this way there's a chance they might get a real reward, though most artists do-"

Down the block a car backfired, the sound shattering the soft noise of the night and drew many stares, even from those getting into vehicles. Both brunettes had paused to look too, and that moment was all that was needed. A dark shape lumbered out from the mouth of an alley and took hold of the teen. A flash of silver as he pressed a knife to her throat and a voice rasped out a crude demand.

"Gimme all your money, now!"

"You really don't want to threaten my daughter," Sora cautioned the armed man. She had an air of calm even with the bite in her tone. Instinct overrode habit in this instance and she moved closer, both to the man holding the younger brunette and to the dark opening the stranger had come from. For her part, the teen was strangely sedate as well. So much so, one could almost venture the guess that she felt zero fear in the present situation.

"Dear sir, I believe it is in your better interest to release the young woman." The shortest amongst the group, even in her heels, bit out through a smile.

The man demanded again that the two not held by him give them, not only their cash now, but every valuable that they had on them, hidden or not. Neither of the women moved to hand him what he wanted, as a consequence, he only needed to glance for a second to the dark opening, and the distracted brunette was grabbed as well.

Further down the road, not far off from where the screeching cars once were, three men, who knew better than to get closer to the scene, were watching, small smiles reaching them as they knew that they'd finally be able to determine if they had found not only what they were looking for, but a way to get it "peacefully". From what they could see, it seemed like the younger one, the first one grabbed, had just had enough pressure applied to the silver line pressed against her throat to pull out a tiny amount of blood...oh yeah, they were enjoying the show.

A noise that could only be described as a feral growl escaped the only free one as she flexed her hands in and out, deciding on which person to go after first.

'If I go after either one first...chances are the other will seriously hurt their hostage...I'll have to get them at the same time...but...well I could always attempt to erase their memories later...'

Sakura took a deep breath in, closed her eyes, placed her hands in front of her chest and began to speak quit crisp and clearly, "Στην αγκαλιά ο ένας του άλλου, τύχη σας θα βρίσκονται: Οργανοληπτική LINK!" Her eyes opened, catching the last few seconds of an eerie silver color which was rapidly fading back to the usual blue and green, and she smiled.

The two men holding her friends began to laugh, the first man managing out an insulting "Dumb bitch"

"Hand", was the reply he received from a sweet, sing-song voice. When he looked down, he could see a big purple, circle with a knife and a gun, taking up the better part of the back of his hand. "You too deary" She directed to the man holding the older brunette, to his horror, he had the same thing.

Taking their distraction and confusion as an opening, Sakura raced towards the closer one, the one who had Sora in his grasps, and jabbed him, almost softly, a few times along the spine, forcing him to release his hold, at the same time forcing his partner to do the same.

Before he could collapse from the now temporarily useless nerves, he was grabbed by the same woman, flipped back, over her and dealt a very heavy ax-kick to an area that he had considered his most precious. In the few seconds it took him, and his partner, to pass out, they suffered a doubly excruciating pain that felt as if it had dragged on for well over an hour, each mille-second praying something or someone would come to end it for them.

"Enjoy pissing blood for the next year." Sakura sang out with a sweet smile before flitting over to Tanya, "I am so sorry this has happened! Here," she ripped part of her dress and placed some goo from a small leaf she had seemed to pull out of nowhere onto it and held it up against Tanya's small cut.

The youngest seemed more startled by Sakura's sudden attention on her than she had at any other point in the confrontation, though she'd looked a bit wide-eyed as Sakura performed her spell. Her hands fumbled playing with the tie around her waist as mostly blue eyes watched the older woman. Her mouth opened but the words came out in just more than a whisper. "Thank you..."

"Come on," Sora spoke, suddenly beside them. "We should get out of here before anyone comes to investigate." The teen reached up to hold the cloth herself as her mom started to lead them into the dark between the two buildings where their attacks had come from. "We're in full public view..."

She steered them through the darkness without letting go until they reached the next street. Only then did she drop her arms but they weren't allowed to stay there. The older brunette started towards their hotel, considerably closer now than before but still a few blocks. Tanya followed close after, hesitating a moment to see if Sakura would follow too.

The woman in the now slightly ripped dress let herself fall behind a little to look at where they had come from.

'I could have sworn that that alleyway was a dead end...that's what most muggers stick to...guess I was wrong...' Realizing she had fallen a little too behind and was in danger of being on her own and getting lost, she ran off, leaving her questions temporarily behind to catch up with the other two.

That was until the hotel; it was late, but she found that she was still brimming with energy, so Sakura had managed to squeeze out of her dress and into a simple bathing suit she had bought (you can't just keep going in your bra and panties), a towel which was securely wrapped around her, and very cheap flip-flops. As she was about to step out of the door, everything from before had rushed back to her, reminding the woman aching for a swim, just how much explaining...or lying, she had to do and how many questions she needed to ask.

'Well...I guess I can try and make this as quick and painless enough that I can still squeeze in some swimming...'

"So...about before...do you want to start or should I?"

Sora looked up from the screen of her laptop and over to Sakura with a mildly surprised look. Conversation had been almost nonexistent between them since the attack on the street, which she didn't mind because she had a new deadline for work, but this was not a topic she expected nor wanted to deal with right now. And she said as much to the other female.

"There's nothing to talk about." She left the unspoken "here" hang in the air for a moment before continuing. "Go ahead and go for a swim; we'll still be here when you get back." A gentle smile to show she was teasing, though she had to let Sakura know the topic wouldn't be dropped entirely. "It's late right now, but if you're certain we need to talk we can tomorrow."

They would be headed back tomorrow so that way they could talk in a more secure setting. Security both that no one could spy on them and so Sora could detain the other girl if necessary though she needn't know any of those thoughts.

The unnaturally warm water swished about as small feet slowly made circles in it while the rest of their body remained entirely too dry. Disappointed in this, the feet stopped and refused to continue no matter how much their owner willed them to.

"I wonder what time it it..." She mused aloud, not caring whether or not the few couples around her answered, as it were, one elderly one did, strangely in unison, so she now at least she knew it was half past midnight.

'It's this late and I still haven't even gone for a single lap...' Sakura sighed and decided to finally stand up and walk over to the deep end, more specifically to the diving board.

"Here goes nothing." Slightly nervous as the height became steeper and steeper, but the woman didn't falter and with one final breath she leapt to begin what laps she could before the thick veil of sleep began to creep over her.

As it were, she only lasted for a half hour before she was slipping back into a now quite dark room quietly, making sure not to bump into anything and quickly jumping into the bathroom to change and get the chlorine out of her hair, lest she wanted it to be black and green. Finally, after checking around the room, making sure everything was locked and nothing was out of, Sakura slipped into her bed and began drifting away.


End file.
